Parties squabble ahead of Bihar bypolls

Four months after the Grand Alliance (GA) was completely decimated during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Bihar, it looks like the constituents of ‘Mahagathbandhan’ have not learnt a lesson. The four parties in the GA are at loggerheads over which seat each outfit would like to contest during the upcoming bypolls slated for next month.

The by-elections for the lone Lok Sabha seat and five Assembly constituencies will be held on October 21. The counting of votes will take place on October 24 and the results will be declared the same day.

While the Congress, RJD and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM (Hindustan Awam Morcha) have expressed their desire to contest as many seats as possible, the situation is no different in the NDA.

After much deliberation, the JD (U) has agreed to contest four Assembly seats (Nathnagar, Belhar, Simri-Bakhtiyarpur and Daraunda), while leaving the Kishanganj, for the BJP.

The LJP will put up as its candidate Prince Raj, son of the late Ram Chandra Paswan, whose untimely demise last month has led to a bypoll for the Samastipur Lok Sabha seat. Paswan was the younger brother of LJP chief and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

‘Semi-finals’

Touted as the ‘semi-finals’ before the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, the bypoll outcome will show whether Modi’s charisma is intact or the situation on ground has changed since the NDA won 39 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar in May this year.

The Congress is most likely to contest the Kishanganj Assembly seat as its MLA, Md Javed, became a Lok Sabha member from Kishanganj, leaving the Assembly seat vacant.
“The grand old party will also throw its hat in the ring of Samastipur Lok Sabha constituency, as its candidate Ashok Ram was the runner-up during the 2019 parliamentary polls,” said a source in the Congress.

The RJD, HAM and Upendra Kushwaha’s fledgling outfit Rashtriya Lok Samata party (RLSP), may share the pie for the remaining seats.