Updated: November 6, 2020 4:51:40 pm
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav addresses an election rally for the Bihar Assembly elections, in Madhubani district, on Tuesday, November 3, 2020 (PTI).
Even as Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar tried to strike a chord by calling it his “last” election, the NDA faces its toughest test in the third and final round of polls in Seemanchal (Kishanganj, Araria, Katihar and Purnia), Kosi (Supaul, Saharsa and Madhepura Regions), Mithila (Darbhanga and Madhubani) and Tirhut (Muzaffarpur and Sitamarhi) in 78 seats.
While the Seemanchal belt gives a clear advantage to the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance), Asaduddin’s Owasi AIMIM, which is competing for 16 seats in this round, may reduce Grand Alliance votes and could win one or more two seats. NDA also faces a tough fight in Purnia, Araria and Katihar.
That Seemanchal is a bastion of the Grand Alliance can be understood as its flavor in the 2010 Assembly polls in which the Nitish-led NDA won 206 of Bihar’s 243 seats.
In the Kosi belt too, the Grand Alliance looks to the future with only NDA veterans like the ministers, Bijendra Prasad Yadav (Supaul) and Narendra Narayan Yadav (Alamganj) looking good to retain their strongholds. Nikhil Mandal, nominated for Madhepura from JD (U) and grandson of former CM BP Mandal, faces a contest.
Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar during an election meeting in Darbhanga, (PTI)
In the role of Saharsa, former MP and wife of jailed former MP Anand Mohan, Lovely Anand is a strong contender for RJD. EBC Mallah leader Mukesh Sahni is also finding it difficult against RJD in the Simri Bakhtiyarpur seat. The daughter of socialist leader Sharad Yadav, Suhasini Raj, is doing well as a candidate for Congress from the Bihariganj headquarters in Madhepura. It’s something else entirely that the staunch socialist, who vehemently opposed Congress for almost his entire political career, came full circle with his daughter joining Congress.
Other important contenders in this round are former RJD Minister and Senior Leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui (Keoti), Lalu Prasad’s close aide Bhola Yadav (Hayaghat), BJP Leader Sanjay Saraogi (Darbhanga), BJP Minister Binod Narayan Jha from Benipatti, AIMIM Akhatarul Iman (Amour), the veteran RJD leader and former Minister Ramai Ram (Bochaha), BJP Minister Suresh Sharma (Muzaffarpur), Bima Bharati and Lesi Singh from JD (U) from Rupauli and Dhamdaha, respectively.
Position 2015
JD (U): 24
BJP: 19
RJD: 20
Congress: 10
CPI (ML) – 1
Others: 4
2020 / Competition 78
NDA
JD (U): 37
BJP: 35
HAM (S): 1
VIP: 5
Georgia
RJD: 46
Congress: 25
CPI (ML): 5
CPI: 2
Third Front
AIMIM: 16
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