For its revival in Bihar, Congress bets on Seemanchal

Congress won only on one seat in Bihar in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections --the Kishanganj seat- which comes under the Seemanchal region of the state.

After its crushing defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Bihar Congress is putting its hopes of revival on Seemanchal, where the party won from Kishanganj, the only seat in the Grand Alliance’s kitty in Bihar this time.

Congress candidate Dr Md Javed defeated JD-U nominee Mahmud Asraf to win the Kishanganj seat in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. (AFP)

Seemanchal has four Lok Sabha seats, Katihar, Araria, Kishanganj and Purnia, and Muslim population ranges from 30 to 70 per cent.

“We thought we could start from the soil of Seemanchal, which has been fertile for the party even in its hardest times,” a Congress leader said.

Bihar Congress spokesperson BK Thakur said, “The party has kept its graph high in Seemanchal even when it suffered in other places.”

“We may be defeated, but can’t be decimated as some parties claim,” he said.

In Kishanganj, Congress candidate Dr Md Javed defeated JD-U nominee Mahmud Asraf to won the seat.

As far as Assembly seats are concerned, the party had bagged eight seats in 2015 Assembly polls out of total 24 seats falling in four districts of Seemanchal. BJP and JD-U had won six seats each while RJD got three. CPI-ML won one seat.

In 2015 assembly elections, JD-U, RJD and Congress had contested polls together against the NDA, then consisting of BJP, LJP and RLSP and HAM.

“With dedicated Congress members, we have started holding meetings to plan strategy to spread Seemanchal’s enthusiasm in the rest of Bihar and in India.” he said.