In the sixth phase of voting in seven seats of Eastern and Northeastern Bihar (known as the Kosi-Seemanchal belt) on April 24, the fight is two-cornered in most of the seats with the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance locked in a tough contest against the Bharatiya Janata Party-Lok Janhsakti Party-Rashtriya Lok Samata Party combine. The ruling Janata Dal United has been pushed to the third spot.
A very high concentration of Muslim votes, aggressive campaigning by RJD chief Lalu Prasad to consolidate the Yadavs, retirement of JDU candidate from Kishanganj and some acerbic comments by BJP leaders in the last few days have led to massive polarisation in the area which may hit Narendra Modi's bid to propel his party to power at the Centre after 10 years.
A total of 1,04,71,951 voters including 55,16,862 males and 49,54,822 females will decide the fate 108 candidates out of whom seven are female. The seats voting are Supaul, Araria, Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia, Bhagalpur and Banka. The largest constituency is Bhagalpur with 16,27,497 electors and Katihar is the smallest with 14,00,603. There are 9,840 polling booths, 9,840 control units, 15,621 ballot units and 78,105 security personnel have been deployed to ensure the smooth conduct of the entire process.
BJP holds Araria, Katihar, Purnia, Bhagalpur and the Independent MP from Banka later joined the party while the JDU won from Supaul and Congress in Kishanganj. So the stakes are very high for the BJP is this round as the RJD alliance has aggressively wooed the electorate and is giving a tough fight to its rivals.
The seats going to polls:
Kishanganj: This is the seat that has changed the dynamics of not only the other six seats voting on April 24 but is also likely to have a big impact in areas where voting is yet to take place.
Almost 70 per cent voters of Kishanganj are Muslims and the Congress gave ticket to its sitting MP Mohammad Asrarul Haque who is being challenged by Dilip Kumar Jaiswal of the BJP and JDU's Aktraul Iman. The BJP's game plan was that with two strong Muslim candidates in the fray, the votes would split giving Jaiswal the edge.
But Aktraul Iman, who quit the RJD and joined the JDU a few weeks back, retired from the contest calling for consolidation of votes to defeat the BJP. That decision not only left the ruling JDU and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar red faced but also turned the tide firmly in favour of the Congress-RJD-NCP combine in the seats voting in the state on April 24. The opening up of an Aligarh Muslim University centre is a big vote catcher in the area and the Congress is taking credit for the same.
The fight is bipolar here with the other eight candidates just making up the numbers.
Supaul: JDU's sitting MP Vishwa Mohan Kumar is not in the fray after he was denied the ticket following which he switched over to the BJP. The BJP, on the other hand, has fielded a Dalit Kameshwar Chaupal who was at the forefront of the agitation for a Ram temple in Ayodhya. Chaupal is pitted against Congress's Ranjeet Ranjan and JDU candidate Dileshwar Kamat.
Ranjit Ranjan is the wife of RJD strongman Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, who is contesting from Madhepura after he was acquitted by a court in the Ajit Sarkar murder case. There are 12 candidates in the fray but the contest will be a triangular one.
The destructive floods of 2008 caused by the Kosi and poor relief work are still a major issue in the area and all the candidates are facing tough times in convincing the electorate that they would address it to their satisfaction.
Araria: BJP has repeated its sitting MP Pradip Kumar Singh while RJD has put up the controversial Mohammad Taslimuddin and Vijay Kumar Mandal is the JDU candidate.
With Muslims comprising 41 per cent of electorate, the BJP is trying to counter the Kishanganj effect. The party is betting on the JDU candidate cornering a chunk of Muslim votes because of the development work carried out by Nitish Kumar and make the road easier for Singh.
Katihar: There are 21 candidates in the fray but NCP leader Tariq Anwar is hopeful of making it to the Lok Sabha once again following the alliance with RJD and Congress. Facing a strong BJP candidate Nikhil Kumar Choudhary, who won in 2009, and JDU's Ram Prakash Mahto (JDU), Anwar is totally dependent on Lalu's appeal among the voters and the Kishanganj effect to play its role when the electorate come out to press the EVM button.
Once a rising political star, Anwar joined Sharad Pawar when he broke away from the Congress to form the NCP. Having lost three consecutive Lok Sabha elections since 1999 year, he is hopeful that the electorate would give him the green signal this time.
Nikhil Kumar Choudhary is banking on his accessible image, a Narendra Modi wave and split of Muslim votes to see him through while Mahto has been highlighting Nitish Kumar's work.
Purnia: Nitish Kumar's close aide Nand Kishore Singh leaving the JDU and joining the BJP has given the latter's candidate Uday Singh alias Pappu Singh a shot in the arm. NK Singh is the elder brother of Uday Singh, who is also the sitting MP from Purnia.
While Muslim voters can play a decisive role but the BJP is confident of retaining the seat as it expect their votes to split between Amarnath Tiwari of the Congress, JDU's Santosh Kumar Kushwaha and 14 other candidates in the fray.
Bhagalpur: Here there are two prominent Muslim candidates - BJP sitting MP Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and JDU's Abu Qaiser - but the minority vote is likely to go Shailesh Kumar alias Bulo Mandal of the RJD.
While both Modi and Lalu addressed rallies in Bhagalpur, the one by the RJD leader had more people in attendance which has left the BJP camp worried. Although Hussain is confident that BJP's tie up with Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP and Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP will bring in the votes that will propel him to victory, his own party is not united in Bhagalpur.
BJP MLA Ashwini Kumar Chaubey, the candidate from Buxar, had been eyeing Bhagalpur and his supporters have been playing truant during the campaign. Qaiser and BSP candidate Naushaba Khanam are eyeing the minority, EBCs and Mahadalit votes.
Banka: This seat does not have a large Muslim vote bank BJP's Putul Kumari faces a strong candidate in Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav of the RJD and Santosh Kumar of the CPI, which is in alliance with the JDU.
Putul Kumari won from Banka as an Independent in 2010 following the death of the sitting MP and her husband Digvijay Singh, who was a JDU leader. She joined the BJP before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Two Assembly segments Banka and Katoria have presence of Naxals and so voting will end at 4 pm unlike other areas where it will continue till 6 pm.
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