“Rome Pope ka, Madhepura Gope ka [What Rome is for Pope, Madhepura is for Yadavs],” goes a saying in Bihar’s Madhepura Lok Sabha constituency, one of the five in north Bihar that would go to polls in the third phase of the 2024 general election on May 7. The other seats are Jhanjharpur, Supaul, Araria, and Khagaria.
In Madhepura, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate and sitting MP Dinesh Chandra Yadav of the Janata Dal (United) is contesting against the Opposition mahagathbandhan’s (grand alliance) Kumar Chandradeep of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). With the Yadav population more concentrated in Madhepura, an MP from the community has always represented the constituency. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav represented it twice, veteran socialist leader Sharad Yadav four times, Pappu Yadav won here in 2014 and now, JD(U) has repeated Mr. Dinesh Chandra Yadav against Mr. Chandradeep, son of former MP and educationist ‘Ravi’ Ravindra Kumar Yadav.
With over 19 lakh voters, the Madhepura Lok Sabha constituency comprises six Assembly seats: Alamnagar, Sonbarsa, Mahishi, Madhepura, Bihariganj and Saharsa.
In 2019, Mr. Dinesh Chandra Yadav defeated RJD nominee Sharad Yadav while Mr. Pappu Yadav finished third. NOTA (None Of The Above) received 38,450 votes and surprisingly finished fourth ahead of 10 other candidates.
B.P. Mandal, who was the chairman of the Second Backward Classes Commission, popularly known as “Mandal Commission”, was the first MP from Madhepura. He hailed from an influential Yadav family in Madhepura. Mr Mandal also served as the seventh Chief Minister of Bihar for 30 days in 1968.
Araria
In Araria, the NDA has reposed faith in its sitting MP Pradeep Kumar Singh of the BJP against RJD candidate Mohammed Shahnawaz Alam. In 2019, the RJD had given ticket to Mr. Shahnawaz Alam’s elder brother Sarfaraj Alam, who lost the poll. Recently, Mr. Sarfaraj Alam was caught on camera crying in a workers’ meeting for being denied RJD candidacy. Both are sons of veteran Muslim leader from the region and former Union Minister Mohammed Taslimuddin who won the Araria seat in 2014 defeating BJP candidate Pradeep Kumar Singh, despite the “Modi wave” sweeping the region at that time. The late Taslimuddin was an influential leader of not only Araria but of the entire Seemanchal region.
Mr. Singh is in the fray for the fifth time though he faces rebellion from a BJP veteran in the constituency, Janardan Yadav, who is supporting Independent candidate Shatrughan Kumar Suman. Mr. Suman belongs to the Extremely Backward Class which holds over 3 lakh votes in the constituency.
With over 18 lakh voters, Araria which is a part of the Seemanchal (border) areas of northeast Bihar along with Purnea, Kishanganj and Katihar, has a Muslim population of over 42%. The constituency comprises six Assembly segments – Narpatganj, Raniganj (SC), Forbesganj, Sikti, Jokihat and Araria.
Supaul
After delimitation, the Supaul Lok Sabha constituency came into existence in 2008, and JD(U) candidate Dileshwar Kamat won the general election held the next year defeating Congress candidate Ranjit Ranjan. The tables turned in 2014 as Ms. Ranjan, defying the Modi wave, defeated JD(U) nominee Dileshwar Kamat by over 60,000 votes. Ms. Ranjan, the wife of regional heavyweight Mr. Pappu Yadav, is currently a Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Chhattisgarh. Mr. Pappu Yadav is contesting the Lok Sabha election as an Independent from Purnea though he had recently merged his Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) with the Congress.
Supau comprises five Assembly seats: Nirmali, Pipra, Supaul, Triveniganj (reserved), Singheshwar (reserved) and Chattapur. Voters of the backward castes Yadav and Kurmi, the upper castes Bhumihar and Brahmins, along with Muslims play a decisive role here. The recurrent issues here are flood, unemployment, and migration. This time, it’s a direct battle between between JD(U)‘s Dileshwar Kamat and RJD’s Chandrahas Chaupal, though 13 others are in the fray.
Khagaria
As for the Khagaria seat, NDA ally Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has given ticket to an “outsider”, Rajesh Verma of neighbouring Bhagalpur, against mahagathbandhan candidate Sanjay Kumar of Communist Party of India (Marxist). Mr. Kumar is the son of former MLA and Communist leader Yogendra Singh who represented the Khagaria Assembly seat in the early 2000s.
In 2019, the undivided LJP candidate Mehboob Ali Kaiser had won the seat but he was dropped this time as. Mr. Kaiser is now part of splintered Rashtriya LJP of Pashupati Kumar Paras. Mr. Kaiser joined the RJD days after being dropped. As many as 12 candidates are in fray from Khagaria. Mr. Kaiser’s son Yusuf Salahuddin is RJD MLA from Simri-Bakhtiyarpur Assembly constituency.
Mr. Verma is a young businessman who in his poll affidavit has mentioned movable and immovable assets worth over ₹32 crore. On April 24, BJP president J.P. Nadda campaigned for Mr. Verma at Gogri-Jamalpur in Khagaria and listed the achievements of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre in the past 10 years.
Jhanjharpur
The Jhanjharpur seat sees a clash between sitting JD(U) MP Rampreet Mandal and mahagathbandhan ally Vikasheel Insaan Party’s Suman Kumar Mahaseth. In 2019, Mr. Mandal had defeated RJD candidate Gulab Yadav by over 3 lakh votes. Mr. Mahaseth was earlier with the BJP and was also its MLC. Mr. Gulab Yadav is again in the fray on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket. Flood, migration, and lack of development are main issues of the constituency which was part of the Madhubani district earlier. With over 18 lakh voters, Jhanjharpur Lok Sabha seat comprises six Assembly constituencies – Phulparas, Kjahauli, Jhanjharpur, Laukaha, Babubarahi and Rajnagar.