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Bihar election 2020: Incumbent JD(U) MLA eyes third consecutive term in Sonbarsa
As per the estimates of 2011 census, the entire chunk of the Sonbarsa’s total population (455,106) is rural and the Scheduled Castes comprise a sizeable portion.
Bihar’s Sonbarsa assembly constituency is reserved for candidates from the Scheduled Caste and is among the 78 seats that will go to polls in the third and last phase of assembly election on November 7. The constituency is part of Saharsa district of Bihar and comes under the Madhepura Lok Sabha constituency.
As per the estimates of 2011 census, the entire chunk of the Sonbarsa’s total population (455,106) is rural and the Scheduled Castes comprise a sizeable portion.
In recent years, the electoral fight here has seen the power rotate between the Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). The RJD’s Ram Chandra Purbey scored two consecutive terms for the party - in 2000 and 2005 - while the JD(U)’s Ratnesh Sada wrested the seat in the 2010 assembly polls. He has been winning from Sonbarsa since then and is the incumbent MLA.
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The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) is known to put up a tough fight for Sonbarsa. For the past two assembly elections, LJP’s Sarita Devi, daughter of former party chief late Ram Vilas Paswan, has been closely chasing the finish line as the runner-up.
During the last assembly polls, JD(U)’s Sada defeated Devi by a margin of 53,763 votes and bagged 59.66 per cent of the vote share. A term before that, in 2010, Devi tasted defeat after Sada emerged victorious by a margin of around 25,000 votes.
This time, the incumbent JD(U) MLA is eyeing to repeat his win for the third consecutive term. As part of the seat-sharing arrangement, the Mahagathbandhan (the Grand Alliance) has decided to field a Congress candidate - Tarini Rishidev. From Chirag Paswan-led lone fighter LJP, Devi will continue to fight for Sonbarsa this year as well.
A total of 313,177 electors will exercise their franchise during this assembly election in Sonbarsa, across 442 polling stations. The votes will be counted on November 10.
