PATNA: The stage is set for the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections to be held on eight seats in Bihar on Saturday. Around 1.5 crore voters will decide the fate of 86 candidates in the fray in Valmiki Nagar, Paschim Champaran, Purvi Champaran, Gopalganj, Siwan, Maharajganj, Vaishali and Sheohar seats.
JD (U) has fielded candidates on four seats including Sheohar, which was won by BJP last time. On the other hand, BJP is contesting three of the eight seats. Chirag Paswan's LJP (RV) has fielded its candidate for one seat. From the opposition ‘INDIA’ bloc, RJD is contesting election on five seats, Congress two seats and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) on one seat.
In Valimikinagar, sitting MP and JD (U) candidate Sunil Kumar is pitted against RJD candidate Deepak Yadav who joined the party after quitting BJP. Kumar had won the seat in a by-election to the constituency necessitated by the death of his father and the then-sitting MP Baidyanath Prasad Mahto. The by-election was held in 2020.
In Paschim Champaran, sitting BJP MP and former state party president Sanjay Jaiswal is contesting the election against Congress candidate Madan Mohan Tiwari. Similarly, sitting BJP MP and former union minister Radha Mohan Singh is pitted against Mukesh Sahni's Vikashsheel Insaan Party (VIP) candidate Dr Rajesh Kushwaha in the Purvi Champaran constituency.
In Sheohar, former MP Lovely Anand is in the fray on JD (U) ticket against RJD candidate Ritu Jaiswal. Lovely is married to muscleman and former MP Anand Mohan. Another sitting MP and LJP (Ram Vilas) candidate Veena Devi is pitted against RJD candidate and former MLA Vijay Kumar Shukla alias Munna Shukla in Vaishali.
Siwan Lok Sabha is witnessing a direct fight between former Bihar assembly speaker and RJD candidate Awadh Bihari Choudhary and JD (U) candidate Vijayalakshmi Devi. Hena Shahab, widow of strongman and former RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, contesting election as an Independent candidate makes the electoral fray triangular.
Vijayalakshmi Devi, wife of former MLA Ramesh Singh Kushwaha had joined JD (U) just a day before the party announced its list of candidates.
In Maharajganj, sitting BJP MP Janardan Singh Sigriwal is pitted against Congress's Aakash Prasad Singh, son of Bihar Congress president AKhilesh Prasad Singh. Similarly, sitting JD (U) MP Dr Alok Kumar Suman is contesting election against VIP candidate Premnath Chanchal from Gopalganj.
