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Bihar Assembly Election 2020: Congress bastion Kishanganj goes to poll on November 7
Prominent candidates this election include BJP’s Sweety Singh, Congress’ Izharul Hussain and AIMIM’s Qamrul Hoda, who is also the sitting MLA.
Kishanganj assembly constituency, which falls under the Kishanganj Lok Sabha constituency, goes to polls on November 7 in Phase 3 of Bihar assembly election. The constituency is situated in the north east of Bihar and it is only district in Bihar withover 70% Muslim population.
A bastion of the Congress Party, the constituency has 293,493 eligible voters out of which 147,916 are male, 145, 560 female and 17 transgenders. Prominent candidates this election include BJP’s Sweety Singh, Congress’ Izharul Hussain and AIMIM’s Qamrul Hoda, who is also the sitting MLA.
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In the 2015 assembly election, Congress’ Dr Mohammad Jawed, who had 66,522 votes, defeated BJP’s Sweety Singh, who had 57,913 votes, by 8,609 votes. The voter turnout in this constituency was 66%. In 2010, Congress defeated BJP. Dr Mohammad Jawed won with 38,867 votes and Sweety Singh was the runner up with 38,603 votes.
Kishanganj (Sadar) assembly seat came into limelight in 2019 when AIMIM opened its account in Bihar with its nominee Qamrul Hoda clinching the seat from Congress and BJP. Dr. Mohammad Jawed (INC) is the present Lok Sabha MP of Kishanganjand Qamrul Hoda (AIMIM) is the present MLA of Kishanganj Legislative Assembly.
According to the 2011 census, out of the total population (421,333) of the constituency, 74.89% is rural and 25.11% is urban. The Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) ratio to the total population is 5.85% and 4.78% respectively.
These 3-phase assembly elections are the first major elections being held in the country after the outbreak of coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in March. To prevent the spread of the disease, the Election Commission of India has issued guidelines to be followed during the elections. The first phase was held on October 28 in which 71 constituencies went to vote and 54% voter turnout was registered. In Phase 2, 94 constituencies went to vote and 53.51% voter turnout was registered. Results will be declared on November 10.
