E-Paper
Bihar election 2020: BJP, AIMIM attempt to wrest Amour from Congress heavyweight
The constituency falls in the Kishanganj Lok Sabha seat and has about 60 per cent Muslim voters.
The Muslim dominated Amour in one of the 78 constituencies that will go to polls in the third phase of the Bihar assembly elections on November 7. The constituency falls in the Kishanganj Lok Sabha seat and has about 60 per cent Muslim voters.
From the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) side, the Congress has fielded sitting MLA Abdul Jalil Mastan as its candidate. Mastan has won the seat six times - five times on a Congress ticket - except in 1985 when he won the seat as an independent candidate. He was defeated by Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Saba Zafar in 2010. But in 2015, Mastan wrested the seat from Zafar by a huge margin of 51,997 votes.
From the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Zafar is contesting the election again, on a Janata Dal (United) ticket. Zafar switched from the BJP to the JD(U) ahead of this year’s assembly elections.
What makes this constituency interesting is that All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen’s (AIMIM) state chief Akhtarul Iman is also in the fray from the seat. Iman is known in political circles as Owaisi of Bihar and has been an influential figure in the Seemanchal region as he has been a two-time RJD MLA as well as a JD(U) leader. Iman joined AIMIM in August 2015.
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Because of Iman’s entry, the math is fairly complicated in the seat as the AIMIM seeks to gain the Muslim vote and make a dent into the Congress’ share, thereby presenting a major challenge to Mastan.
As per the voter list of 2019, there are 3,00,117 electorates and 300 polling stations in this constituency. Voter turnout was 63.44% in 2019 Lok Sabha elections and 60.26% in the 2015 assembly elections. The counting will take place on November 10.
