Bihar election 2020: In Yadav heartland Bihariganj, GenNext of politics to test the waters
It is certainly not an easy contest for Subhashini who is trying to protect her father Sharad Yadav’s political legacy.
In her maiden electoral plunge, Subhashini Raj Rao of Congress is pitted against two-time Janata Dal (United) MLA Niranjan Mehta, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) candidate Vijay Kumar Singh and Prabhash Kumar of Janadhikar Party (JAP) in Bihariganj, where voting will be held in the third phase of the Bihar Assembly election on November 7. It is certainly not an easy contest for Subhashini who is trying to protect her father Sharad Yadav’s political legacy.
Sharad Yadav, the 73-year-old former Union minister, is a veteran parliamentarian. He launched a new political party Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) in 2018 after parting ways with Nitish Kumar-led JD(U).
Niranjan Kumar Mehta of JD(U) is the present MLA of this largely rural constituency which is a part of Madhepura Parliamentary constituency from where Dinesh Chandra Yadav of JD(U) is the present Lok Sabha MP. As chief minister Nitish Kumar widely campaigned for the JD(U) candidate from the seat, he refrained from speaking anything against Sharad Yadav and Subhashini.
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Yadav represented the Madhepura Lok Sabha seat four times but lost the last two Lok Sabha elections. Therefore, salvaging her father’s legacy is an uphill task for Subhashini who called the region her father’s “karmabhoomi” in an election rally adding, “I am your candidate, your daughter. I have come here to serve you, to fulfill the dreams of my father.”
The Yadavs form a major chunk of the voters from the seat, and there is also a significant presence of other backward castes such as Kushwahas. Subhashini is eyeing the Yadav vote but faces a challenge from JAP’s Prabhash Kumar, a Yadav by caste who recently left Rashtriya Janata Dal after the Bihariganj seat went to the Congress, which is part of the grand alliance along with RJD. Though the Madhepura assembly seat would have been ideal for her, the Congress gave Subhashini a ticket from Bihariganj.
In 2015, JD(U)’s Niranjan Kumar Mehta, a Kushwaha by caste, defeated BJP candidate Ravindra Charan Yadav by 29,253 votes in Bihariganj.
As per the voter list of 2019, there are 3,00,885 electorates in this constituency. The counting of the polls will take place on November 10.
