Parties stick to tested formulas as 5 seats of north Bihar gear up for polls
“Rome Pope ka, Madhepura Gope ka [What Rome is for Pope, Madhepura is for Yadavs],” goes a saying in Bihar’s Madhepura Lok Sabha constituency, one of the ve in north Bihar that will go to the polls in the third phase of the Lok Sabha election on May 7. The other seats are Jhanjharpur, Supaul, Araria, and Khagaria.
In Madhepura, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate and sitting MP Dinesh Chandra Yadav of the Janata Dal (United) is contesting against the Opposition mahagathbandhan’s (grand alliance) Kumar Chandradeep of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). With the Yadav population more concentrated in Madhepura, an MP from the community has always represented the constituency. RJD chief Lalu Prasad represented it twice, veteran socialist leader Sharad Yadav four times, Pappu Yadav won here in 2014 and now, the JD(U) has repeated Mr. Dinesh Chandra Yadav against Mr. Chandradeep.
With over 19 lakh voters, the Madhepura Lok Sabha constituency comprises six Assembly seats: Alamnagar, Sonbarsa, Mahishi, Madhepura, Bihariganj and Saharsa.
In 2019, Mr. Dinesh Chandra Yadav defeated RJD nominee Sharad Yadav while Mr. Pappu Yadav nished third. NOTA (None Of The Above) received 38,450 votes and surprisingly nished fourth ahead of 10 other candidates.
Rebellion worries
In Araria, the NDA has reposed faith in its sitting MP Pradeep Kumar Singh of the BJP against RJD candidate Mohammed Shahnawaz Alam. Mr. Singh is in the fray for the fth time though he faces rebellion from a BJP veteran in the constituency, Janardan Yadav, who is supporting Independent candidate Shatrughan Kumar Suman. Mr. Suman belongs to the Extremely Backward Class which holds over 3 lakh votes in the constituency.
With over 18 lakh voters, Araria which is a part of the Seemanchal (border) areas of northeast Bihar along with Purnea, Kishanganj and Katihar, has a Muslim population of over 42%. The constituency comprises six Assembly segments — Narpatganj, Raniganj (SC), Forbesganj,
Sikti, Jokihat and Araria.
After delimitation, the Supaul Lok Sabha constituency came into existence in 2008, and JD(U) candidate Dileshwar Kamat won the Lok Sabha election held the next year defeating Congress candidate Ranjit Ranjan. The tables turned in 2014 as Ms. Ranjan, defying the Modi wave, defeated JD(U) nominee Dileshwar Kamat by over 60,000 votes. Ms. Ranjan, the wife of regional heavyweight Mr. Pappu Yadav, is currently a Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Chhattisgarh. Mr. Pappu Yadav is contesting the Lok Sabha election as an Independent from Purnea though he had recently merged his Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) with the Congress.
Voters of the backward castes Yadav and Kurmi, the upper castes Bhumihar and Brahmins, along with Muslims play a decisive role here. The recurrent issues here are ¦ood, unemployment, and migration.
This time, it’s a direct battle between between the JD(U)’s Dileshwar Kamat and RJD’s Chandrahas Chaupal, though 13 others are in the fray.
‘Outsider’ in fray
As for the Khagaria seat, NDA ally Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has given ticket to an “outsider”, Rajesh Verma of neighbouring Bhagalpur, against mahagathbandhan candidate Sanjay Kumar of Communist Party of India (Marxist).
In 2019, the undivided LJP candidate Mehboob Ali Kaiser had won the seat but he was dropped this time as. Mr. Kaiser is now part of splintered Rashtriya LJP of Pashupati Kumar Paras. Mr. Kaiser joined the RJD days after being dropped. As many as 12 candidates are in fray from Khagaria. Mr. Verma is a young businessman who in his poll a§davit has mentioned movable and immovable assets worth over ₹32 crore.
The Jhanjharpur seat sees a clash between sitting JD(U) MP Rampreet Mandal and mahagathbandhan ally Vikasheel Insaan Party’s Suman Kumar Mahaseth. In 2019, Mr. Mandal had defeated RJD candidate Gulab Yadav by over 3 lakh votes. Mr. Gulab Yadav is again in the fray on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket. Flood, migration, and lack of development are main issues of the constituency.