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The last of the Seemanchal seats set to go to polls, the story of the election in Araria in north Bihar that votes on Tuesday lies in its two famous landmarks linked to figures, almost a generation apart, who were voices of the region in their own way, one a pioneering writer and the other a strongman-politician.
Riding high on its performance in the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, which was a vast improvement on the Lok Sabha polls a year before, the RJD-Congress alliance hopes to increase its tally in the Lok Sabha elections.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue with his campaign schedule in Jharkhand and Bihar.
This election in Bihar is being fought on a very untidy field. Here, the Opposition’s grand alliance or Mahagathbandhan that was put together with much flamboyance and fanfare in 2015 to take on the Narendra Modi-BJP, has been dramatically reconstituted, most leaders and candidates on both sides of the political fence have changed sides since, many more than once, and Nitish Kumar most prominently.
Not too long ago, both the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar were trying to own the caste-based survey that last year revealed that the Economically Backward Classes (EBCs) were the largest social bloc in the state at 36.1% of the population.
As one enters the market in Khagaria in central Bihar, a sea of red flags immediately catches the eye. Though the Left, part of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led Mahagathbandhan, is a marginal player in Bihar politics, it is making its presence felt this Lok Sabha election in the Khagaria-Begusarai belt.
About 10 km away from Madhepura town, as one turns right from the Purnia-Saharsa highway and crosses the railway line, a row of kutcha houses with tin roofs greet you. At the end of the village, Murho, stands a memorial of former Bihar chief minister Bindeshwari Prasad Mandal renowned for the Mandal Commission report.
In the battleground state of Bihar, the second phase of polling on Friday will see five constituencies go to the polls, including three from the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region.