Kishanganj, a north-eastern lok Sabha constituency of Seemanchal in Bihar, is one of the two seats where the Congress can put its faith on the candidate to continue its winning streak. With the JD(U) candidate pulling himself out of the poll race a few days back in support of the Congress, the contest of Kishanganj, even after losing its appeal, hosts a BJP candidate, who is pulling all stops together to turn the tide in his favour.
Kishanganj is the only Parliamentary constituency of Bihar where the Muslims figure 69 per cent of the electorate and has always chosen a candidate from their own community, except in 1967 when lakhan lal Kapoor of Socialist Party had won the seat. In 2009 lok Sabha poll, the Congress candidate Maulana Ashrarul Haque had won the poll defeating the JD(U) candidate Syed Mahmood Ashraf with a margin of over 80,000 votes.
The Congress, contesting on 12 Parliamentary seats in Bihar in alliance with the RJD, has re-nominated Maulana Ashraf to retain the seat and if electoral economics and its calculus are to be considered, the Congress candidate is all set to sail through for second time also. Besides Kishanganj, the Congress could also get Sasaram seat from where lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar is the party candidate.
The Muslims, who have changed the demographic index of the constituency in Kishanganj, are primarily categorised into three groups: The numerically preponderant Suryapuris or Deshwalis, considered to be natives of Kishanganj, the Shershahwadis or Bhatias said to be migrated from Bangladesh and the Paschima. The Congress candidate is from Suryapuri community.
The JD(U) candidate, Akhtarul Iman, who unexpectedly pulled himself out from the electoral race just before eight days of the polling, too belongs to the Suryapuri Muslim clan. Iman, who was an RJD MlA from Kochadhaman Assembly constituency of Kishanganj, had recently defected the party and joined JD(U) to contest the lok Sabha seat. After he pulled out from the election race, in a way, Nitish Kumar lost the Kishanganj seat even before the polling.
“He realised that he will not win in the polls, so he may have decided to win the confidence of the community after pulling out of the race,” said Mohammed Ashfaq of Belwa in Kochadhaman, on asking what might have forced the young leader to pull out from the contest.
While others at Kathaldangi village were of the opinion that by withdrawing himself from the poll contest, Akhtarul Iman has confirmed his support to Maulana and his community in the next lok Sabha poll. However, in Kishanganj town many said that he might have withdrawn his name just to avoid the division of community vote.
like other constituencies in Seemanchal area, the NaMo factor in Kishanganj too has polarised the voters but this polarisation has given clear edge to the Congress candidate in the numerical strength of the minority votes. “If BJP has to win the Kishanganj seat, merely polarisation will not yield them positive result here,” said a local journalist Rahul Kumar. The Congress candidate, though, has not done anything for the constituency but he is said to be a “harmless person...good but for nothing”.
“In the present scenario I don’t think he will face any trouble in retaining his seat,” said a resident of Kishanganj. He added that had JD(U) or the BJP put some strong candidate (of Muslim community), the Congress candidate might have landed in big trouble. The BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain had won the Kishanganj lok Sabha seat in 1999 because Muslims votes got divided between Ashrarul Haque and RJD candidate Mohd Taslimuddin. Mohd Taslimuddin, however, is contesting poll from Araria seat on the RJD ticket.
Meanwhile, BJP candidate Dilip Jaiswal too is trying hard to turn the tide in his favour by galvanising his Hindu vote as well as some votes of Shershahwadis or Bhatias. Jaiswal, a BJP MlC, though, holds a reputation of a good leader — always ready to provide health facilities through his local MGM medical college. “He was a clerk in the medical collage but rose up to become the director. If he manages a split in the Muslim vote, he may come up as a dark horse,” said a resident.
The BJP’s cadre here are said to be burning midnight oil to wrest the Kishanganj seat from the Congress but the demographic profile of the constituency apparently is not leaving any room for any possibility of a miracle.
“If 1.70 lakh Bhatias vote for Jaiswal, his chances for a win may increase,” believed many Hindu voters. “Otherwise there is no contest here and Maulana, without any trouble, will retain the seat,” said Vinay Prakash of Bahadurganj.