In his first poll rally held in Ram Nagar in West Champaran district, Rahul Gandhi went after Narendra Modi repeating his ‘suit-boot’ remark. Rahul Gandhi drew cheers when he chose to drive home the point referring to how a tea-seller was now rubbing shoulders with the suit-boot people, all at the cost of the common man. In his speech Rahul Gandhi promised to bring employment to Bihar but made no mention on how he would do that. In the absence of leading alliance partners at the rally, his speech was short on actual substance. Lalu Prasad son’s Tejashwi shared the Dias with him.
JD(U), RJD and Congress agree on seat adjustment list for all 243 seats
Addressing a joint press conference in Patna yesterday, the JD(U) State President Vashisht Narain Singh announced that the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ had come to an agreement on the seat sharing formula for all 243 seats. He confirmed that JD(U) and RJD would contest in 101 seats each, while Congress would contest 41 seats. However, none of the parties have released the names of candidates, as yet.
In an attempt at accommodating its alliance partners, RJD and Congress, JD(U) announced that it will be contesting in only 79 seats out of 118 that it held. JD(U) has vacated 26 seats in favour of RJD and another 13 for Congress in a sign that it was willing to sacrifice for the larger gain of the Mahagathbandhan. On their part, RJD vacated only 2 seats in favour of JD(U), while Congress has declined to offer any of its existing seats.
BJP announces its 2nd list of 99 candidates
Union Minister JP Nadda announced after the party’s election committee meeting that the party had included a wide cross section of professional, women and youth while finalising the 2nd list of 99 candidates. He clarified that the party had included doctors, engineers, lawyers and other professionals for wider representation. He emphasised that the list comprised 60% youth.
This brings the BJP list of candidates announced to 142 out of 160 seats that the party will be contesting. He clarified that seats of 14 sitting MLAs had been changed. The meeting was attended by party heavyweights including Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Sushil Kumar Modi and Shahnawaz Hussain, amongst others.
LJP leader Paswan’s son-in-law rebels on denial of ticket
It was the turn of Anil Kumar Sadhu, Ram Vilas Paswan’s son-in-law and President of Dalit Sena, to rebel against his father-in-law and BJP-led NDA. Calling an emergency meeting of district presidents of Dalit Sena, Sadhu threatened to burn Ram Vilas Paswan’s effigy on Sunday to protest the manner in which candidate’s list was drawn.
Having won by a margin of 53,000 votes from Masaurhi during the 2010 assembly polls, Sadhu was keen to stand from Kutumba this time. But the NDA alliance has given the ticket to HAM leader Jitan Manjhi’s son, Santosh Kumar Suman. Sadhu is also miffed with the fact that LJP leader’s younger brother Pashupati Kumar Paras was given a ticket, as was Prince Raj – his nephew and son of Ramchandra Paswan, Ram Vila Paswan’s other brother.
Ticket allocation – It’s all in the family
Politics has become a business but now it is definitely becoming a ‘family’ business for many politicians. In the current Bihar elections, senior leaders across parties are inducting their sons, daughters and relatives into the political system to further consolidate their hold on political power. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is inducting his sons, Tejashwi and Tej Pratap into politics, LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan is promoting his son Chirag Paswan, his brother Pashupati Kumar Paras and his nephew, Prince Raj. Not to be left behind is HAM chief Jitan Manjhi, who has given a ticket to his son Santosh Kumar Suman. BJP too has its share of family inductees, with party Vice President CP Thakur ensuring a seat for his son Vivek Thakur.
But it is the Congress that must be credited for institutionalising ‘dynasty politics’. The first family needs no introduction but several other party stalwarts have followed the leading family. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, Jitin Prasada, and Karti Chidambaram are amongst the many inheritors of ‘political legacies’. Some names from other parties include Omar Abdullah of NC, Kalikesh Singh Deo of BJD, and Ajay Singh Chautala of INLD. The list is endless and makes one wonder where and how the common man is represented?
Politician in focus: CP Thakur, BJP (Born 3 September 1931)
Chandreshwar Prasad Thakur was born in Muzzafarpur district of Bihar to a Bhumihar Brahmin family. Interested in academics, he went on to complete his M.B.B.S. from Patna Medical College. He later completed his M.D., M.R.C.P., and F.R.C.P. from UK. He has won acclaim for his work on ‘Kala Azar’.
He soon became interested in active politics and joined the BJP. He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1984. He served in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government as Cabinet Minister for Water Resources (Nov 1999-May 2000), Health and Family Welfare (May 2000-June 2002) and Small Scale Industries; Development of North East (Jan 2003-May 2004).
Constituency in focus: Araria
Araria is a district headquarter and is located in the northeastern part of Bihar, near the Indo-Nepal border. It was carved out of Purnia district in 1990. Araria has been earmarked as an underdeveloped region and has a large Muslim population. The Kosi River passes through Araria and has been the cause of severe flooding during monsoons. As per 2011 Census, the total population in Araria is 2,806,200, of which males are 1,460,878 and females 1,345,322.
2010 Assembly Election Results
• Winner in 2010 Assembly Poll: Zakir Hussain Khan, LJP
• Margin of win: 18,061 votes ; 14.05% of total valid votes
• Runner-up: Narayan Kumar Jha, BJP • Male voters: 66,410 ; Female voters: 62,111 ; Total: 128,555
• Polling %: 59.34%
• Male Candidates who contested: 14 ; Female Candidates: 0
• Polling stations: 215
Related Information:
Bihar Elections 2015
Bihar Election Updates
Bihar Election Dates
Candidate List for Bihar Assembly Elections 2015
List of Assembly Constituencies of Bihar
Bihar Election Results
Political Parties of Bihar
Who will be the next Chief Minister of Bihar?
List of Chief Ministers (CM) of Bihar
Government and Politics of Bihar
List of Governors of Bihar
Bihar Map
