Lok Sabha Elections 2019: In Bihar, fourth phase voting crucial for BJP

The fate of several NDA stalwarts, including union minister Giriraj Singh (BJP), Bihar’s water resource department minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh (JD-U) and BJP state unit president Nityanand Rai is being decided on Monday in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections today. Nearly 87,92,548 voters are exercising their franchise that will decide the fate of 66 candidates.

The fourth phase is of high electoral importance to the BJP, which is contesting the three seats of Darbhanga, Ujiyarpur and Begusarai. BJP allies JD(U) and LJP are contesting from the seats of Munger and Samastipur respectively. In the opposition Grand Alliance, Congress is contesting from Samastipur and Munger, RJD from Begusarai and Darbhanga and RLSP from Ujiyarpur.

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The biggest battle of prestige in the fourth phase will be between BJP’s Nityanand Rai and RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha in Ujiyarpur. Kushwaha who was a union minister in the NDA cabinet until last year, quit the alliance citing irrefutable differences and has since become a part of the Grand Alliance. Kushwaha is also contesting from Karakat, from where he is the sitting MP.

The most hyped electoral battle in the fourth phase of elections is undoubtedly the one in Begusarai, where BJP candidate Giriraj Singh is up against former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students’ union leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who is contesting on a Communist Party of India (CPI) ticket.

Begusarai has attracted much attention in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. Giriraj Singh, who is the sitting MP from Nawada, had earlier expressed his displeasure over being allotted a ticket from Begusarai and had levelled allegations against the state BJP leadership for shifting his constituency. Eyes will also be on Kanhaiya Kumar, who has on several occasions criticised the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has received support from celebrities like Shabana Azmi, Swara Bhasker and JNU students during his campaign. Though there were talks of Grand Alliance not fielding a candidate from Begusarai early this year, RJD finally decided to field Tanveer Hassan, which makes the contest a triangular one.

Watch | Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Watch out for these big fights in Phase 4

 

In Darbhanga, Abdul Bari Siddiqui of RJD and BJP’s Gopal Jee Thakur are pitted against each other and caste is expected to play a major factor in the seat. Darbhanga was a major issue of contention within the Grand Alliance, as Congress wanted to field its candidate from the seat. RJD too faced heat from Md Ali Ashraf Fatmi, who fought from Darbhanga on an RJD ticket in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. While RJD finally decided to go with Siddiqui, Fatmi resigned from the party due to him being denied a ticket.

 

Constituency	Sitting MP
Madhya Pradesh
Balaghat	Bodhsingh Bhagat, BJP
Chhindwara	Kamal Nath, Congress
Jabalpur	Rakesh Singh, BJP
Mandla	Faggan Singh Kulaste, BJP
Shahdol	Gyan Singh, BJP
Sidhi	Riti Pathak, BJP
Rajasthan
Ajmer	Raghu Sharma, Congress
Banswara	Manshankar Nimana, BJP
Barmer	Sona Ram Choudhary, BJP
Bhilwara	Subhash Baheria, BJP
Chhittorgarh	Chandra Prakash Joshi, BJP
Jalore	Devji Patel, BJP
Jhalawar-Baran	Dushyant Singh, BJP
Jodhpur	Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, BJP
Kota	Om Birla, BJP
Pali	P P Choudhary, BJP
Rajsamand	Hariom Singh Rathore, BJP
Tonk-Sawai Madhopur	Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria, BJP
Udaipur	Arjunlal Meena, BJP
Jammu and Kashmir
Anantnag	Vacant
Maharashtra
Bhiwandi	Kapil Moreshwar Patil, BJP
Dhule	Dr. Bhamre Subhash Ramrao, BJP
Dindori	Chavan Harishchandra Devram, BJP
Kalyan	Dr.Shrikant Eknath Shinde, Shiv Sena
Mumbai North	Gopal Chinayya Shetty, BJP
Mumbai North West	Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar, Shiv Sena
Mumbai North East	Kirit Somaiya, BJP
Mumbai North Central	Poonam Mahajan, BJP
Mumbai South Central	Rahul Ramesh Shewale, Shiv Sena
Mumbai South	Arvind Ganpat Sawant, Shiv Sena
Maval	Shrirang Chandu Barne, Shiv Sena
Nandurbar	Dr Heena Gavit, BJP
Nashik	Godse Hemant Tukaram, Shiv Sena
Palghar	Rajendra Gavit, BJP
Shirdi	Lokhande Sadashiv Kisan, Shiv Sena
Shirur	Adhalrao Shivaji Dattatrey, Shiv Sena
Thane	Vichare Rajan Baburao, Shiv Sena

Constituency	Sitting MP
Uttar Pradesh
Akbarpur	Devendra Singh Bhole, BJP
Etawah	Ashok Kumar Doharey, BJP
Farrukhabad	Mukesh Rajput, BJP
Hamirpur	Kunwar Pushpendra Singh Chandel, BJP
Hardoi	Anshul Verma, BJP
Jalaun	Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, BJP
Jhansi	Uma Bharti, BJP
Kannauj	Dimple Yadav, SP
Kanpur	Murli Manohar Joshi, BJP
Kheri	Ajay Kumar, BJP
Misrikh	Anju Bala, BJP
Shahjahanpur	Krishna Raj, BJP
Unnao	Sakshi Maharaj, BJP
Jharkhand
Chatra	Sunil Kumar Singh, BJP
Palamu	Vishnu Dayal Ram, BJP
Lohardaga	Sudarshan Bhagat, BJP
Odisha
Balasore	Rabindra Kumar Jena, BJD
Bhadrak	Arjun Charan Sethi, BJD
Jagatsinghpur	Kulamani Samal, BJD
Jajpur	Rita Tarai, BJD
Kendrapara	Baijayant Panda, BJD (now in BJP)
Mayurbhang	Rama Chandra Hansdah, BJD
West Bengal
Asansol	Babul Supriyo, BJP
Baharampur	Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Congress
Bardhman Purba	Sunil Kumar Mondal, Trinamool Congress
Bolpur	Anupam Hazra, Trinamool Congress
Birbhum	Shatabdi Roy, Trinamool Congress
Burdwan-Durgapur	Mamtaz Sanghamita, Trinamool Congress
Krishnanagar	Tapas Paul, Trinamool
Ranaghat	Tapas Mandal, Trinamool
Bihar
Begusarai	Dr. Bhola Singh, BJP
Darbhanga	Kirti Azad, BJP
Munger	Veena Devi, LJP
Samastipur	Ram Chandra Paswan, LJP
Ujiarpur	Nityanand Rai, BJP