Updated: October 16, 2020 6:58:04 pm
Congress has sent the daughter of former JD (U) veteran Sharad Yadav, Subhashini, from the JD (U) stronghold of Bihariganj in Madhepura. (AND ME)
ON PAPER, the apprehension of a section of the RJD Congress for having treated him badly in the 70 seats assigned to him as part of the Mahagathbandhan seems to be justified. The electoral districts from which the match is disputed finally became apparent Friday night when launched his list at the end of some tough negotiations with the RJD.
Of the 70 seats, Congress has not won 45 in the past two decades, with 12 won by the BJP or its ally JD (U). In 18 out of the 70’s, even Congress partner RJD hasn’t won in 20 years.
Twenty-three of the seats in Congress are the ones he had won last time. It has had to give up four seats that it won in 2015 to allies and has two electoral districts from where it had won the RJD.
Congressional sources accepted that some of these seats would be very difficult to win, but they are encouraged because the party has good candidates there. For example, it has sent the daughter of former JD (U) veteran Sharad Yadav, Subhashini, from the JD (U) stronghold of the Bihariganj headquarters in Madhepura, while former LJP leader Kali Prasad Pandey has been sent from the Kuchaikote Assembly constituency in Gopalganj district. He also relies on Luv Sinha, the son of former Bollywood star and former BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha, for traction in Bankipur, which has been with the BJP for a long time.
Congress had contested 41 seats in the Assembly in 2015, when the Mahagathbandhan included JD (U), and won 27. However, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Congress only won one seat, the Kishanganj, dominated by Muslims, in Bihar, with the remaining 39 go to the BJP-JD (U) -LJP NDA combine. Many in the RJD had argued at the time that the party might have been wrong by giving up too many seats (9) to Congress.
Those in Congress who are in talks with the RJD argue that it has gotten a fair deal.
The congressional list is also marked by a preference for young candidates, with an average age, sources said, of 47.5 years. Up to 39 of the 70 candidates are under the age of 50.
The party has put forward seven women candidates and 12 Muslim candidates. Their Muslim faces include Mashkoor Ahmad Usmani, former president of the Aligarh Muslim University Student Union, who had been a prominent face in the anti-CAA-NRC protests earlier this year. Usmani has been dispatched from Jale headquarters in Dharbhanga district.
While nearly half of the candidates for Congress are in the general category (11 Bhumihars, nine Brahmins and Rajputs each, and four Kayasths (33 in total)), the party has put forward nine candidates who are OBC, 14 who are from scheduled castes and two belonging to extremely backward classes.
Congressional MLA constituencies where the party is not contesting this time are Bhorey, Bachhwara, Manjhi, and Gobindpur, which have gone to RJD allies and the three left-wing parties. The RJD has given him two of their seats, Raja Pakar and Sakra.
Of 32 of the 38 seats in Congress from which it had not contested the last time, the party only won Vaishali (2000) and Hisua (2005) in the last 20 years. Six of the 38 seats were created after the 2008 delimitation and have since been won by the JD (U) or the BJP.
Nineteen of these 38 seats were won by the JD (U) in 2015, when it was challenged in partnership with the RJD and Congress. Some of them, like Supaul, Maharajganj, Nalanda, Harnaut and Sultanganj, have been strongholds of JD (U) for two decades.
Furthermore, of the 70 seats with Congress, the BJP has not lost seven – Chanpatia, Raxaul, Patna Sahib, Lakhisarai, Purnia, Gaya town and Ramnagar – in 20 years.
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