Five Lok Sabha seats in Bihar go to polls Tuesday, four

Close to nine million voters will be deciding the fates of 82 candidates, five of them women and 33 not associated with any political party, in five Lok Sabha seats of Bihar which go to polls in the third phase of general elections on Tuesday. Four sitting MPs Ranjeet Ranjan (Supaul), her husband Pappu Yadav (Madhepura), Sarfaraz Alam (Araria) and Mehboob Ali Kaiser (Khagaria) would seek to retain their respective seats while Jhanjharpur, which is held by the BJP has this time gone to the JD(U).

Madhepura is witnessing a queer battle as Yadav is pitted against the RJD, which had fielded him five years ago, and his principal challenger of last time, Sharad Yadav, is now the party's official candidate. The MP was expelled from the party a year after the elections and he has floated his own outfit Jan Adhikar Party (JAP). The JD(U), which had last time fielded Sharad Yadav, has now fielded state minister Dinesh Chandra Yadav.

The JD(U) is headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who camped in the district, after which the Lok Sabha constituency is named, for close to a week to ensure that his party candidate is able to hold his own against the two others who have represented the seat a number of times. A stronghold of the socially and educationally backward but numerically and politically powerful Yadav, Madhepura is also the place of birth of the late BP Mandal, the architect of the Mandal Commission.

Pappu Yadav's presence in the fray has, however, placed the alliance between RJD and Congress under strain in Supaul, where his wife Ranjeet Ranjan is the sitting MP. The local RJD unit has fielded a rebel candidate against the Congress parliamentarian as a mark of protest against her husband fighting against the party candidate in Madhepura. Ranjan is also facing a tough contest from the JD(U)s Dileshwar Kamait, who had lost to her in 2014 by a margin of 60,000 votes. The BJP, which had fought separately from the JD(U) and polled more than two lakh votes, is now with the JD(U).

In Araria, a pocket borough of late RJD strongman Taslmuddin, his son Sarfaraz Alam seeks to retain the seat which he had won in a by-poll last year necessitated by the death of his father. BJPs Pradip Kumar Singh, the winner of 2009 whom Taslimuddin defeated by a margin of about 1.5 lakh votes five years later and who lost to the son in the by-poll, is once again in the fray as his party's candidate. His prospects are bolstered this time with the return of the JD(U) to the NDA.

In Jhanjharpur, currently held by BJPs Birendra Kumar Choudhary, the JD(U) has fielded Ram Prit Mandal who is pitted against RJDs Gulab Yadav. The JD(U), which had won the seat in 2009 while it was in the NDA, expects to do well this time having returned to the BJP-led coalition. It also received a shot in the arm recently when the RJD candidate of 2014 Mangani Lal Manda, who had finished the runner-up and polled nearly three lakh votes, joined the JD(U).

In Khagaria, sitting LJP MP Mehboob Ali Kaiser is pitted against Mukesh Sahni, a former Bollywood set designer who took the political plunge about six months and floated his own party VIP which is a constituent of the 'Mahagathbandhan. According to the Election Commission, among the voters there are 46.55 lakh men and 42.44 lakh women besides 225 belonging to the 'third gender' category.

Altogether 58,700 election staff would be deployed at polling stations across the five constituencies where voting is expected to be peaceful as none of the assembly segments falling under these has been deemed to be sensitive or hyper-sensitive. Nonetheless, police and paramilitary forces have been deployed at the 9076 polling stations with facility of the live webcast available at 162 of these. Arrangements have been made for 14489 ballot units and 9076 VVPAT machines.

Voting will take place from 7 AM to 6 PM at all places except Alauli and Beldar assembly segments in Khagaria where it will conclude at 4 PM.