India News | Fierce Battle on the Cards for First By-polls After Change of Govt in Bihar
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The stage is set for a tough battle in the Mokama and Gopalganj assembly constituencies of Bihar as by-elections will be held under tight security on Thursday.
Patna, Nov 2 (PTI) The stage is set for a tough battle in the Mokama and Gopalganj assembly constituencies of Bihar as by-elections will be held under tight security on Thursday.
The by-polls to the two seats will be the first election after the formation of the 'Mahagthabandhan' government around three months back. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the de-facto leader of the JD(U), dumped the BJP and formed a new coalition government with the RJD, Congress and Left parties in early August.
Polling will begin at 7 am and continue till 6 pm, officials at the Chief Electoral Office said.
While 2.70 lakh people are eligible to exercise their franchise in Mokama, the figure is 3.31 lakh in Gopalganj.
Of the total 15 candidates in the fray, nine are contesting from Gopalganj and six are in the fray from Mokama.
BJP leader Kusum Devi is pitted against RJD's Mohan Gupta in Gopalganj. The Lalu Prasad-led party is leaving no stone unturned to wrest it from the saffron camp.
Alleging that the BJP is trying to cash on the "sympathy of voters" by fielding Kusum Devi, the wife of Subhash Singh whose death necessitated the by-election, the RJD leadership said the assembly constituency falls under its supremo Lalu Prasad's home district, Gopalganj.
In Mokama, BJP nominee Sonam Devi is up against RJD's Neelam Devi, whose husband Anant Singh's disqualification has necessitated the by-election.
Mokama is the stronghold of Anant Singh since 2005. He won the seat twice on JD(U) tickets.
Singh fought as an RJD candidate in the 2020 elections and retained the seat. But he was disqualified from the assembly following his conviction in a criminal case.
BJP candidate Sonam Devi, wife of a local muscleman Lalan Singh who has been opposed to Anant Singh, is a greenhorn. Her husband is known to be a confidant of dreaded gangster-turned-politician Suraj Bhan Singh.
Suraj Bhan Singh had made his electoral debut in the 2000 assembly elections when he wrested the Mokama seat, by an astounding margin, contesting as an Independent and defeating Anant Singh's elder brother Dilip Singh, who was a minister in the Rabri Devi government.
The BJP is contesting from the Mokama constituency for the first time as the saffron party had, on previous occasions, left the seat to its allies.
“Adequate security arrangements have been made in both assembly seats for the conduct of free and fair polls,” a senior official of the State Chief Electoral Officer's office said.
EVMs will be equipped with VVPAT machines in the two constituencies.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)