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Bihar Assembly Election 2020: These seats will be watched closely
As counting of votes will be taken up on Tuesday and final results announced, here’s a look at the key contests of the Bihar assembly elections.
Thousands of political leaders will be eagerly watching the counting of votes on Tuesday for the three-phase Bihar assembly elections, which concluded on November 7 with 57.05 per cent voter turnout. Leaders of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which consists of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Janata Dal (United) or (JDU), Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), are facing a tough contest from candidates from the opposition coalition of the Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance. The Mahagathbandhan comprises the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress and Left parties.
Nominees of the Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA), an alliance of Jan Adhikar Party (JAP), Azad Samaj Party, the Bahujan Mukti Party (BMP) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), are also in the fray. The Grand Democratic Secular Front (GDSF) of the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Janwadi Party (Socialist) and Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is another contender in the Bihar assembly polls this year.
As counting of votes will be taken up on Tuesday and final results announced, here’s a look at the key contests of the Bihar assembly elections:
Raghopur
In Raghopur, the Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance’s chief ministerial face Tejashwi Prasad Yadav faces the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Satish Kumar, who had defeated Rabri Devi in 2010 state elections and LJP’s Rakesh Roshan. In 2015, then 25-year-old Tejashwi had defeated the BJP’s Kumar.
Hasanpur
Tej Pratap Yadav, who had contested from Mahua in 2015, shifted to “safe” seat of Hasanpur after rumours that his estranged wife Aishwarya Rai would contest on an NDA ticket at Mahua. Tej Pratap is pitted against sitting JD(U) MLA Raj Kumar Rai, who has been holding the seat since 2010.
Bankipur
In Bankipur, Congress’ poll debutant Luv Sinha - the son of actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha faces four-time sitting BJP legislator Nitin Nabin. Other candidates in the fray are The Plurals Party chief Pushpam Priya and Independent candidate and Oxford University academician Manish Barriarr.
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Imamganj
Former chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) Jitan Ram Manjhi, who is the sitting MLA from the seat, is facing four-time MLA and veteran Dalit leader RJD’s Uday Narayan Choudhary. Choudhary left the JD(U) and entered the RJD after losing to Manjhi in 2015. The other main candidates from the seat are Jitendra Kumar Paswan of the RLSP and the LJP’s Shobha Sinha.
Dumraon
Dumraon has been held by the JD(U) for the past years and this time the party has fielded Anjum Ara to face CPI (ML) leader Ajit Kumar Kushwaha and Independent candidate Shivang Vijay Singh. Shivang Vijay is the grandson of the late Maharaja Kamal Singh, who represented the Buxar Lok Sabha seat as an Independent candidate for two consecutive terms 1952 and 1957.
Brahampur
The seat is a Congress bastion and witnessing an interesting triangular battle between the VIP’s Jayraj Chaudhary, sitting RJD MLA Shambhu Nath Singh Yadav, and the LJP’s Hulas Pandey.
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Govindganj
In this seat, the LJP’s sitting MLA Raju Tiwari will face a triangular re-election battle with Congress’ Brajesh Pandey and the BJP’s Sunil Mani Tiwari. The LJP has fielded a candidate in Govindganj despite Chirag Paswan’s insistence earlier that the party won’t nominate anyway against the BJP.
Kishanganj
The Kishanganj constituency becomes crucial as the contest is between AIMIM’s Kamrul Hoda, Congress’ Izrahul Hussain and BJP’s Sweety Singh. A Muslim-dominated seat - Congress candidate Javed Azad had won in assembly polls in 2010 and 2015 from Kishanganj.
Sikti
Sitting MLA Vijay Mandal will defend the seat for the BJP as RJD has fielded Shatrughan Mandal from Sikti assembly constituency, which is located in the Araria district.
Madhepura
Former Madhepura MP and Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) head Pappu Yadav has presented himself as the chief ministerial candidate in this year’s election and is contesting from the Madhepura constituency against the JD(U)’s Nikhil Mandal and the RJD’s Chandrasekhar.
