In Phase-5, Lalu, Paswan’s legacy at stake in Bihar

New Delhi, May 19

Five constituencies in Bihar — Saran, Hajipur, Muzaffarpur, Madhubani and Sitamarhi — will vote on Monday to decide the fate of 80 candidates.

Saran once used to be a RJD bastion from where Lalu Prasad Yadav won the Lok Sabha elections thrice. In 1977, he went to Parliament for the first time from Saran on a Janata Party ticket. Later, he won the Assembly elections from Sonepur, which comes under Saran, in 1980 and 1985. Prasad became an MP again in 1989 but resigned in 1990 to become Bihar Chief Minister. In 2004, he again won from Saran.

In 2009, he contested the Lok Sabha election from Saran and won. His wife, Rabri Devi, unsuccessfully contested from Saran in 2014 and lost to the BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy. In 2019, the RJD fielded Chandrika Rai and he too lost the seat. This time the RJD has fielded Rohini Acharya, youngest daughter of Prasad from Saran.

Madhubani: Ashok Yadav, son of former four-time MP Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav, is in fray from BJP

In the Hajipur (reserved) seat, the contest is between LJP (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan and RJD candidate Shiv Chandra Ram. Ram Vilas Paswan had represented Hajipur eight times. In the 2019 election, Paswan fielded his younger brother Pashupati Kumar Paras, who too won the seat.

From Sitamarhi, Sunil Kumar Pintu, the incumbent MP, was dropped by the JD (U) in favour of Bihar Assembly Council chairman Devesh Chandra Thakur. The RJD has fielded Arjun Rai. In the 2019 LS elections, Pintu defeated Rai by over 2.5 lakh votes.

In Madhubani, the BJP’s Ashok Yadav defeated Vikashil Insaan Party (VIP) candidate Badri Kumar Purbey in 2019. This time the RJD has placed Ali Ashraf Fatmi against Ashok Yadav, who is the son of former four-time MP from the seat and senior BJP leader Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav. In the 1990s, the constituency was dominated by the Community Party of India. In 1989, 1991 and 1996 Communist Party of India won the seat.

In Muzaffarpur, the contest is between the BJP’s Raj Bhushan Choudhary and Ajay Nishad of the Congress. In 2019, Nishad won on a BJP ticket defeating Choudhary, who had contested on a VIP ticket. This time, when the BJP dropped Nishad, he joined the Congress.

In UP, 14 seats go to polls today

• The stage is set for the 5th phase of the Lok Sabha polls for 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh on Monday, including prominent ones such as Raebareli, Amethi and Lucknow, marking a crucial moment where the fate of several key candidates is at stake
• The constituencies that go to the polls are Raebareli, Amethi, Lucknow, Faizabad, Kaisarganj, Jalaun, Mohanlalganj, Jhansi, Hamirpur, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Barabanki and Gonda
• Voters will determine the fate of several prominent leaders, including Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani, along with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi
• A total of 144 candidates are contesting in the fifth phase of elections. Initially, the EC received 466 nominations, of which 147 underwent scrutiny and nominations of 144 candidates were deemed eligible and approved for participation in the electoral fray