A polling official searches for the name of a voter in the voters list at a polling booth. Representative image.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Is Amitabh Bachchan returning to politics after decades? Why is Lalu Prasad Yadav fighting against RJD?
A glance at the list of 2,616 candidates in the Bihar Assembly elections might suggest so -- it's not the leaders themselves, rather their namesakes trying their luck at the ballot.
Not just them, the Bihar polls also see Atal Bihari (Vajpayee), Manmohan Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose fighting the polls.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, firebrand Congress youth leader Kanhaiya Kumar and senior BJP MP Ravishankar Prasad are not contesting but they too have namesakes fighting the polls.
In Barh constituency, it is not the Bollywood icon, who walked away from electoral politics after a brief stint in the 1980s, who is in fray but a candidate of Rashtriya Sanatan Party bearing his name is fighting. Barh’s Bachchan, a small-time contractor with Rs 14.6 lakh assets, is contesting for the first time.
Bachchan, the candidate, got his name when a teacher added the surname when his name was given as Amitabh when he was being enrolled in the school. “I am fighting because there are murders happening. Hindus are unsafe. In hospitals, the poor do not get service. We need change,” he said.
Not just Bachchan, another Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan’s namesake is also in the contest in Manihari. This Khan, a social worker with just Rs 90,000 assets, is an NCP candidate.
Since his disqualification following his conviction in a corruption case, Lalu has not contested an election. But a Rashtriya Jansambhavana Party candidate bearing the RJD patriarch’s name is fighting in Marhaura against RJD’s Jitendra Kumar Rai. The nomination of Seema Singh of LJP(RV) was rejected.
Yadav, who unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the past, told DH over phone, “so many people won but nothing happened on the development front. I will keep fighting for development.”
Another namesake, who filed nominations in Chiraia as an independent, withdrew from the race.
A 42-year-old Manmohan Singh, an ex-serviceman who reminds one of the former Prime Minister by name, is fighting from Sandesh on a Rashtrawadi Janlok Party ticket while Atal Bihari, who carries the name of former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee, is a Garibjanta Party (Loktantrik) candidate in Beldaur.
There are four Nitish Kumar in the fray in Gurua (Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party), Mohania (Asankhya Samaj Party), Jehananabad (Bhagidari Party (P) and Brahampur (independent). Like Bihar Chief Minister Nitish who is an electrical engineer, the independent in Brahampur is a mining engineer.
While Jan Suraaj Party has fielded ‘Subhash Chandra Bosh’ in Sikandra, there are two Kanhaiya Kumar namesakes in Bibhutipur and Muzaffarpur, both independents. Two namesakes of Ravishankar Prasad – Lohiya Janta Dal candidate in Chenari and Bhagidari Party (P) candidate in Dumraon are also in fray.