NEW DELHI: The prestige of the ruling JD(U), a constituent of the NDA, and the principal opposition RJD — the key constituent of Mahagathbandhan in Bihar — is at stake in the second phase of voting on Friday in state’s Seemanchal-based five prominent seats. As many as 86 candidates are in the fray for five seats — Purnia, Kishanganj, Bhagalpur, Banka and Katihar. The ruling JD(U), led by CM Nitish Kumar, has fielded NDA-supported candidates against RJD and Congress.
“These constituencies have witnessed tough contests between the NDA and the grand alliance on issues such as inflation, unemployment and developments. We hope to win all these seats”, said a senior JD(U) leader. Purnia, Kishanganj and Bhagalpur LS seats are prominent among the five on which both the alliances have done vigorous campaigning with Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav attending massive public gatherings.
The Congress has fielded candidates in the three seats while the ally RJD in two of them. The JD (U) has campaigned in all five seats. In Purnia and Kishanganj, the NDA candidates are in a triangular contest while in Bhagalpur, Katihar and Banka, JD(U) candidates face a direct contest with Congress and RJD candidates.
“All the five candidates, including an MP in Purnia, have been selected by CM Nitish Kumar, who is aware of a tougher contest than in 2019”, said a party functionary.
Tejashwi Yadav has done marathon campaigning for his party candidate in Purnia and camped there for three days. “The real test of Tejashwi’s leadership would be in Purnia from where Lalu Prasad has fielded Bima Bharti. Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav too has jumped into the fray as an independent making the contest triangular. A win in Punia will mean trust in Tejashwi’s leadership, which is the political buzz.
In Kishanganj, Congress candidate Mohamed Javed is pitted against JDU’s Mujahid Alam and AIMIM Akhtarul Imam in a triangular contest. In 2019, Congress candidate Javed won this seat defeating Imam.
The second prestigious seat for JDU and RJD is Bhagalpur LS seat where JD(U) MP Ajay Mandal is pitted against Congress Ajeet Sharma. In Banka, JDU’s Girdhari Yadav is pitted against RJD’s Jay Prakash Yadav in a direct contest. Yadav won the seat in 2014 defeating BJP’s Putul Kumari by 10,000 votes. Girdhari Yadav defeated Jay Prakash Yadav in 2019 and he is the sitting JDU MP.
In Katihar, which is one of the important Seemanchal LS seta in Bihar, JDU’s Dular Chanda Goswami faces Congress’ Tariq Anwar in a direct fight. Goswami is MP form this seat and Tariq Anwar has represented it five times.