Courtsey : The Telegraph
This year, Nitish Kumar-led NDA has worked up a lead over RJD-LJP combination and Congress, contesting separately for the 13 north Bihar Lok Sabha seats going to polls tomorrow.
Vaishali, Mithila and Champaran are all Lalu Prasad strongholds where RJD-LJP-Congress combination previously had won 11 seats, reducing the JD(U)-BJP to two, in the 2004 polls. The RJD alone had won eight seats against the two and the one its allies (LJP and Congress) had bagged. However, with the Congress re-entering the fray on all seats, it might cut into the Muslim and upper caste vote bank.
Also in the poll fray, there is socialist stalwart and nine-time Congress MP George Fernandes. Fighting from the Muzaffarpur seat as an Independent candidate, Fernandes is accompanied by LJP boss Ram Vilas Paswan (contesting from Hajipur). With him there is filmmaker and LJP nominee Prakash Jha, Lalu Prasad’s brother-in-law and Congress nominee Sadhu Yadav (West Champaran), former India cricketer Kirti Azad (Darbhanga) and Union ministers Raghubansh Prasad Singh, an RJD nominee from Vaishali and Shakeel Ahmad, a Congress nominee from Madhubani.
The second phase is crucial for the embattled RJD chief, as it will decide if he gets to emerge as the kingmaker yet again. His Muslim-Yadav combination, with the Paswans in tow, had swept the 2004 polls. This time around, Lalu’s combination faces an acid test against the government-sponsored development work, combined with the consolidation of Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) and Mahadalits, who are “with the JD(U)” — the party that has fielded candidates on nine seats leaving four for BJP.
However, one commonality binds all 13 seats — they are all triangular contests with the third corner made up by the Congress, while in four-five seats the BSP trying to make the battle four-cornered.
George Fernandes, the man who has won from Muzaffarpur seat six times, is trapped in a four-cornered battle with Congress’s Vinita Vijay, LJP’s Bhagwan Lal Sahni and JD(U)’s Jainarayan Nishad.
Ram Vilas Paswan, who entered Guinness Book Of World Records twice (1977, 1989) for his wins, is locked in a triangular fight with JD(U)’s Ram Sunder Das and Congress’s Hind Kesri Yadav. Union minister and Vaishali’s RJD nominee, Raghubansh Prasad Singh, been winning this seat since 1996, finds himself against JD(U) don Munna Shukla and Congress nominee Hindkesri Yadav.
It is Sadhu Yadav — a Congress nominee — who threatens to cut into the M-Y combination of Lalu Prasad and appears to be the third angle in the between Prakash Jha and Sanjay Jaiswal (BJP) battle. Observers insist that Prakash would have had a clear edge, had Sadhu Yadav not thrown his hat into the ring.
Cricketer and BJP nominee on the Darbhanga seat Kirti Azad is said to be banking on the division of secular votes between the incumbent RJD nominee M.A.A. Fatimi and Congress’s Ajay Jalan.
Similarly, Congress nominee Shakeel Ahmad who had been winning from Madhubani since 1996, finds himself struggling as he stands trapped in a triangular battle with RJD’s Abdul Bari Sidiqui and BJP’s Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav.
Vaishali, Mithila and Champaran are all Lalu Prasad strongholds where RJD-LJP-Congress combination previously had won 11 seats, reducing the JD(U)-BJP to two, in the 2004 polls. The RJD alone had won eight seats against the two and the one its allies (LJP and Congress) had bagged. However, with the Congress re-entering the fray on all seats, it might cut into the Muslim and upper caste vote bank.
Also in the poll fray, there is socialist stalwart and nine-time Congress MP George Fernandes. Fighting from the Muzaffarpur seat as an Independent candidate, Fernandes is accompanied by LJP boss Ram Vilas Paswan (contesting from Hajipur). With him there is filmmaker and LJP nominee Prakash Jha, Lalu Prasad’s brother-in-law and Congress nominee Sadhu Yadav (West Champaran), former India cricketer Kirti Azad (Darbhanga) and Union ministers Raghubansh Prasad Singh, an RJD nominee from Vaishali and Shakeel Ahmad, a Congress nominee from Madhubani.
The second phase is crucial for the embattled RJD chief, as it will decide if he gets to emerge as the kingmaker yet again. His Muslim-Yadav combination, with the Paswans in tow, had swept the 2004 polls. This time around, Lalu’s combination faces an acid test against the government-sponsored development work, combined with the consolidation of Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) and Mahadalits, who are “with the JD(U)” — the party that has fielded candidates on nine seats leaving four for BJP.
However, one commonality binds all 13 seats — they are all triangular contests with the third corner made up by the Congress, while in four-five seats the BSP trying to make the battle four-cornered.
George Fernandes, the man who has won from Muzaffarpur seat six times, is trapped in a four-cornered battle with Congress’s Vinita Vijay, LJP’s Bhagwan Lal Sahni and JD(U)’s Jainarayan Nishad.
Ram Vilas Paswan, who entered Guinness Book Of World Records twice (1977, 1989) for his wins, is locked in a triangular fight with JD(U)’s Ram Sunder Das and Congress’s Hind Kesri Yadav. Union minister and Vaishali’s RJD nominee, Raghubansh Prasad Singh, been winning this seat since 1996, finds himself against JD(U) don Munna Shukla and Congress nominee Hindkesri Yadav.
It is Sadhu Yadav — a Congress nominee — who threatens to cut into the M-Y combination of Lalu Prasad and appears to be the third angle in the between Prakash Jha and Sanjay Jaiswal (BJP) battle. Observers insist that Prakash would have had a clear edge, had Sadhu Yadav not thrown his hat into the ring.
Cricketer and BJP nominee on the Darbhanga seat Kirti Azad is said to be banking on the division of secular votes between the incumbent RJD nominee M.A.A. Fatimi and Congress’s Ajay Jalan.
Similarly, Congress nominee Shakeel Ahmad who had been winning from Madhubani since 1996, finds himself struggling as he stands trapped in a triangular battle with RJD’s Abdul Bari Sidiqui and BJP’s Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav.
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