The fate of candidates for three Lok Sabha seats will seal in Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) on Monday. A total of 45,26,693 voters will exercise their franchise in three parliament constituencies Lohardaga, Palamu and Chatra which will go to poll in fourth phase (first phase in State ) in the State.
Prominent leaders whose fate will be decided include Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, Sudarshan Bhagat of BJP who is pitted against former State Congress President and Lohardaga Congress MLA Sukhdeo Bhagat in Lohardaga, former DGP and Palamu sitting MP VD Ram of BJP who is fighting against RJD former MP Ghuran Ram in Palamu. Chatra Lok Sabha seat which witnessed much infighting between Congress and RJD is going to witness triangular contest among BJP’s Sunil Singh, Congress party’s Manoj Yadav and RJD’s Subhash Yadav.
The three seats going to poll are presently held by BJP MPs with all three MPs depending on Modi magic to beat the anti-incumbency heat. Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi after displaying show of strength in a road show in State Capital held a rally next day (April 24) in Lohardaga soliciting support for BJP candidates.
The PM’s message during Lohardaga rally was loud and clear. He claimed that by pressing button on Lotus, they are strengthening his hand. “A vote in support of BJP candidates will strengthened his fight against terrorism and corruption,” said Modi. Apart from Modi, BJP star campaigner BJP national president Amit Shah had campaigned in support of BJP candidates in Daltonganj. Similarly, last week, BJP former national president and current home minister Rajnath Singh conducted a public rally in Hussainabad block of Palamu seat. In both the rallies addressed by BJP bigwigs, they touched national issue rather than raking up local issue.
While Shah promised of withdrawing Article 370 of constitution from Jammu and Kashmir if voted back to power, Rajnath setting 2023 deadline to wipe out Left Wing Extremism (LWE) menace from country. A senior State BJP leader requesting anonymity said, “We have a star campaigner like Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh. The election is for electing a strong Prime Minister we have a face like Modi. If Congress had any face they must show.”
The leader further said, “Star campaigners raised national issue as many sitting MPs are facing anti-incumbency in their respective areas.” The BJP leader statement assumes importance as the name of BJP candidate Sunil Singh was finalized in last hour. Also Singh had to face people ire when he campaigned.
In contrast to BJP star power campaigning in three Lok Sabha constituencies, Congress depended on local leadership for campaigning as neither Congress president Rahul Gandhi nor any senior Congress leaders campaigned in the three seats.