Nitish’s trial by fire to prove saleability

Altogether five Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar will go to the polls in the second phase on Friday as chief minister Nitish Kumar faces a litmus test in view of JDU from NDA fielding its candidates on all seats.

Nitish has not only to ensure victory of his party’s candidates on all seats but also to prove his sceptics wrong that his popularity has suffered a major dent after his frequent political flip-flops.

MAJOR SEATS

Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnea, Banka and Bhagalpur constituencies will go to the polls in the second phase. Barring Kishanganj from where Congress won in 2019, JDU won all four other seats last time.

While constituencies of Kishanganj, Katihar and Purnia are in Muslim-dominated

Seemanchal region, Banka and Bhagalpur are in the eastern part of the state.

Of all, Purnia is the hot seat as Independent candidate Rajesh Ranjan aka Pappu Yadav is pitted against JDU’s Santosh Kushwaha. While Santosh is facing antiincumbency after representing the seat for two consecutive terms, RJD candidate Bima Bharti has to contend with her ‘limited’ support base. She is primarily dependent on the popularity of RJD chief Lalu Prasad who has bounced back to his boisterous style of politics after his kidney transplant. Although Lalu did not hold any rally in support of Bharti, his son Tejashwi Yadav left no stone unturned to queer the pitch of Pappu. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also sought votes for Bharti at a rally in Bhagalpur. In such a situation, all eyes are set on the Purnia seat, witnessing an intense and also somewhat bitter triangular contest.

As many as 93,96,298 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise for deciding the fate of 50 candidates, including three women in the Phase 2. Polling will be conducted at 5,436 polling booths