Bihar Assembly Election: JD(U) hopes to retain Kusheshwar Asthan constituency

Janata Dal (United)’s Shashi Bhushan Hazari is the sitting MLA of the constituency.

Kusheshwar Asthan assembly constituency, a part of the Samastipur Lok Sabha constituency, is one of the 94 seats that will go for polls on November 3 in phase two of the Bihar assembly election. Phase one of the three-phase election took place on October 28 and the last phase is scheduled for November 7. Results will be announced on November 10.

In the first phase of polling, which saw 54% turnout, 71 constituencies went to vote. (Santosh Kumar/ Hindustan Times)

Janata Dal (United)’s Shashi Bhushan Hazari is the sitting MLA of the constituency. In the 2015 election, when 11 candidates were in the fray, JD(U) won the seat with 50,062 votes while Lok Janshakti Party (LJP)’s Mrinal Paswan followed with 302,122 votes. Hazari bagged 43.07% votes whereas Paswan received 25.99% votes. The percentage of None of the Above (NOTA) votes stood at 6.18%.

This year the JD(U) has again fielded Hazari while Congress candidate and party’s sitting MLA from Singhia constituency Ashok Kumar will take on the NDA nominee. The constituency has 250,678 eligible voters out of which 131,792 are male, 118,885 are female and one transgender voter.

In the first phase of polling, which saw 54% turnout, 71 constituencies went to vote. Voters were made to follow coronavirus (Covid-19) guidelines at the polling booth. Among other leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged everyone to participate in the festival of democracy keeping in mind safety guidelines to curb the spread of coronavirus. “I urge all voters to ensure their participation in this festival of democracy while taking precautions against #COVID19,” PM Modi tweeted on Wednesday.

Out of the 71 constituencies that went to vote on October 28, the RJD won 27 in 2015, while the JD(U) got 18, the BJP 13, the Congress nine and others four.