Amid tight security, seven lok Sabha constituencies including the prestigious Patna Sahib, Patliputra and Nalanda would go to poll on Thursday in second phase of elections in Bihar. The electoral stakes of former Home Secretary RK Singh, Misa Bharti, daughter of lalu Prasad and cinestar Shatrughan Sinha are high in this phase of poll.
The BJP stalwarts and star campaigners Narendra Modi and Rajnath Singh had already held rallies for the party candidates in the second round of the poll in the State. At Patna Sahib, the fate of sitting BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha is at stake against Bhojpuri star of yesteryears Kunal Singh Yadav of Congress and Dr Gopal Prasad Sinha of the JD(U). During his campaign, Shatrughan Sinha has been accused by the electorate for being ‘absent’ from the constituency for long but he appeared to be riding high on NaMo wave in the urban constituency and looked comfortable to sail through.
In the neighbouring Patliputra Parliamentary constituency RJD chief lalu Prasad has been sweating to garner support for his eldest daughter, Misa Bharti, who is making her political debut from the Yadav dominated constituency. Misa is pitted against her two “chachas (uncles)” Ram Kripal Yadav from the BJP and Ranjan Prasad Yadav on a JD(U) ticket. Though, Ram Kripal Yadav sounded confident for his win for he has always been accessible to the people of the constituency, JD(U) candidate Ranjan Prasad Yadav appeared to be nowhere in the race. Taking the seat as his prestige, lalu Prasad had addressed over two dozen public rallies and at least three impressive roadshows in the constituency.
Similar is the situation for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on his hometurf, Nalanda, where he has to toil hard to ensure the victory of his party candidate and sitting MP Kaushalendra Kumar. Pitted against him are the lJP candidate backed by BJP’s Satyanand Sharma and the Congress nominee supported by RJD’s Ashish Ranjan Sinha. A caste stronghold of Nitish Kumar, Nalanda, is appearing to be slipping sand for him as NaMo wave is reeling strong among the upper caste and a section of OBC. But Kumar’s prestige is likely to prevail in his home constituency otherwise many believe that his party would be the biggest electoral upheaval in this lok Sabha poll in Bihar.
At upper caste Rajput dominated Arrah constituency, former Home Secretary and Bihar cadre IAS officer RK Singh is giving tough fight to JD(U) candidate and sitting MP Meena Singh and Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha of the RJD. Kushwaha was in JD(U) but deserted the party at the eleventh hour to contest the poll on a RJD ticket. The poll math of lalu Prasad appeared to be that with the upper caste vote division between two Rajput candidates, Kushwaha would sail though in the elections, however, it seems that the upper caste voters this time have decide not to support the candidate who has been riding on NaMo wave.
In the adjacent Buxar constituency, the RJD might have reasons to flash a smile as the party candidate Jagdanand Singh who is also a sitting MP looked safe against Ashwani Choubey of the BJP and Dadan Singh Pehalwan of the BSP. Choubey was given party ticket after removal of long time party candidate and leader lal Muni Choubey from the seat and since Ashwani Choubey comes from Bhagalpur, he apparently could not strike desired rapport with the electorates. Though, the BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi had addressed a rally there with an emotional appeal for the vote of Ashwani Choubey but despite NaMo wave, the voters are appearing reluctant to cast their vote for him.
At Jehanabad, two upper caste candidates Arun Kumar of the BJP and Anil Sharma of the JD(U) are fighting for the lion’s share of their caste vote whereas the RJD candidate Surendra Prasad Yadav appeared to be comfortable with his en bloc Yadav and Muslim votes. Modi also addressed a rally in Jehanabad in favour of Arun Kumar but that tuned out as a very low-turnout rally reflecting the mood of the voters.
In Munger, the contest appeared to be triangular between the JD(U) candidate Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias lallan Singh, BJP candidate Veena Devi who is wife of strongman Surajbhan Singh and RJD candidate Pragati Mehta, a journalist. Both the BJP and JD(U) candidates are fighting for upper caste votes but the RJD candidate working hard to be a surprise package with his sizeable undivided caste vote in the constituency. An electorate of over one crore is expected to exercise franchise in 11,846 polling stations to decide the fate of 117 candidates in all the seven constituencies.