After a lot of hard work in Bihar, an agreement has been reached on seat sharing in ‘India Alliance’. Of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state, RJD will contest on 26, Congress on 9 and Left parties on 5. RJD has retained many of the seats on which Congress could have given a better electoral contest. In this way, even though the final seal of approval has been given on seat sharing in the Indian alliance, but due to the swapping of seats, the hopes of veteran leaders of Congress as well as RJD to contest the elections have been dashed. In such a situation, now it has to be seen how the India alliance overcomes the NDA?
Under the seat sharing formula in the India alliance, RJD is playing the role of elder brother in Bihar. RJD’s share includes Jehanabad, Gaya, Nawada, Aurangabad, Buxar, Patliputra, Munger, Jamui, Banka, Balmiki Nagar, East Champaran, Shivhar, Sitamarhi, Vaishali, Saran, Siwan, Gopalganj, Ujiarpur, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Jhanjharpur, Supaul, Madhepura, Purnia, Araria and Hajipur seats have come.
At the same time, Congress has won Kishanganj, Katihar, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, West Champaran, Patna Sahib, Sasaram, Maharajganj and Samastipur seats. Left Front has got five seats, in which CPI will contest on Begusarai seat and CPM will try its luck on Khagaria seat. CPI-ML has got the seats of Arrah, Karakat and Nalanda.
Who got shocked by seat sharing?
With the seat distribution in the Indian alliance formed to contest the Lok Sabha elections, the game of many senior leaders has completely deteriorated. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has kept Purnia with himself instead of giving it to Congress. Pappu Yadav has merged his party with Congress in order to contest elections from this seat. RJD has also kept Supaul seat in its account, from where Pappu Yadav’s wife Ranjita Ranjan was MP in 2009. Lalu Yadav has also kept seats like Madhubani and Aurangabad with himself while Begusarai Lok Sabha seat has been given to the Left.
Disappointed from Pappu to Shakeel
Five-time MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav was preparing to contest elections from Purnia seat for a long time. Pappu Yadav had merged his party with Congress due to contesting elections from Purnia seat, but RJD retained this seat and has also made Bima Bharti its candidate. Pappu Yadav is still adamant on contesting the elections and is talking about a friendly fight. If Congress does not agree then they will have the option to contest the elections as independent.
Former Union Minister and veteran Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed was preparing to contest elections from Madhubani Lok Sabha seat. There have also been MPs from this seat, but this seat has gone to RJD. In 2019, this seat was contested by Mukesh Sahni’s party, due to which Shakeel Ahmed contested as an independent candidate and came second while the VIP candidate got much less votes than him. This time also Congress could not succeed in taking Madhubani seat, due to which Shakeel Ahmed is once again disappointed.
Nikhil and Pravesh’s spoiled game
The Aurangabad seat of veteran Congress leader Nikhil Kumar has gone to RJD. Due to this, Nikhil Kumar’s hopes of contesting elections have been eclipsed even though his father Satyanarayan Sinha and wife Shyama Singh have been MPs on this seat. Nikhil Kumar himself was successful in winning in 2009 and was preparing to contest elections in 2024. Nikhil Kumar’s game has been spoiled due to this traditional seat of Congress going to RJD.
Congress also could not take the Valmiki Nagar seat and it went to RJD, due to which Pravesh Mishra’s chances of contesting the elections were eclipsed. In the Lok Sabha by-election held in 2020, Congress’s Pravesh Mishra lost by just 20 thousand votes. But this time RJD has kept this seat for itself. Earlier in 2019, this seat was with Congress. Even after this could not achieve.
Kanhaiya Kumar also got a shock
Congress also wanted the Lok Sabha seat of Begusarai in Bihar, from where Kanhaiya Kumar was preparing to contest the elections. In 2019, Kanhaiya Kumar had contested elections on CPI ticket, when RJD had fielded its candidate against him. This time Congress wanted this seat, but RJD has given this seat to the Left. There is a good number of Bhumihars in Begusarai seat. Kanhaiya Kumar also comes from Bhumihar community. Apart from this, there are also a good number of communist voters in Begusarai. In such a situation, the electoral equation of Begusarai could have been better for the Grand Alliance due to the support of RJD’s traditional voter Muslim-Yadav, but after going to the Left’s account, Kanhaiya Kumar’s hopes of contesting the elections have got a big blow.
Prabhunath Singh’s son Randhir disappointed
With Maharajganj Lok Sabha seat going to Congress, the hopes of Randhir Singh, son of veteran RJD leader and former MP Prabhunath Singh, of contesting the elections have been dashed. Randhir Singh was preparing to contest elections for a long time. It is believed that Bihar State President of Congress Akhilesh Prasad Singh wants his son to contest the Lok Sabha elections on this seat, but RJD is now giving the option of fielding Randhir Singh on the Congress symbol. In such a situation, if Congress does not agree, then Randhir’s hopes of contesting the elections will be a big blow.
Why did Congress not get a strong seat?
In Bihar, Congress has been kept away from such seats from where it could have given a good fight. RJD has also retained Madhepura Lok Sabha seat. RJD has not given even Supaul seat of Kosi-Seemanchal area to Congress. If Kanhaiya Kumar and Pappu Yadav are successful in registering victory from Congress, then its emergence in the politics of Bihar could be a threat to the political future of Tejashwi Yadav. Apart from this, the second biggest reason is that the political ground on which RJD is standing in Bihar once belonged to Congress. RJD is also most at risk from the emergence of Congress. It is believed that this is why Congress has been given weak seats.
