As the D-Day approaches, the two main rival camps in Chhapra constituency of Saran district in Bihar are keeping their fingers crossed fearing that rebel candidates may eat into their votes which can adversely affect their chances of representing the seat in the 243-member Bihar Assembly.
While sitting Rashtriya Janata Dal MLA Randhir Kumar Singh is the Mahgathbandhan candidate, the National Democratic Alliance has placed its bets on Bharatiya Janata Party’s Dr CN Gupta. But tickets to the two also meant heartburn for others and they are now in the battlefield as rebels.
Udit Rai, three-time MLA and a close associate of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, jumped into the electoral contest after the party decided to repeat Randhir Kumar Singh, the son of veteran party leader and former Lok Sabha MP Prabhunath Singh. On the other side, BJP leader Kanhaiya Singh filed his nomination as an independent candidate after he was sidelined in favour of Dr Gupta.
Incidentally, in the August 2014 Assembly bypolls which was won by the RJD after the then BJP MLA Janardan Singh Sigriwal won from Maharajganj in the Lok Sabha elections, it was Dr Gupta who had rebelled and contested as an independent from Chhapra while Kanhaiya Singh was the official BJP candidate. While Randhir won, Dr Gupta came second and Kanhaiya was pushed to the third spot, which was taken into account when the tickets were distributed.
Rai, a Yadav, has been harping during the campaign that his association with the Chhapra goes back 25 years. He won from Chhapra as an independent in 1990 and retained it in 1995. Later he joined RJD and won again in 2000 elections. But then he tasted defeat at the hands of Janata Dal United candidate Ram Pravesh Rai in February as well as November 2005 elections.
Although Dr Gupta runs a highly successful hospital in Chhapra and has a lot of goodwill among the people yet his candidature has meant that Rajputs, the core voters of BJP in the area, are miffed over the cold shoulder to Kanhaiya Singh. Party insiders admit that they are not finding it easy to convince the community to back Dr Gupta even though Saran is represented by a Rajput Rajiv Pratap Singh Rudy in the Lok Sabha.
Rudy has been touring the area for the past few weeks and has broken down some of the resistance of his community yet there is apprehension among the BJP cadre that many Rajputs will still vote for the RJD as Randhir Kumar Singh is also from the same community.
But Virendra Nath Gupta, who is the BJP election office in-charge in Chhapra, appears confident and says Dr Gupta will get the votes of all castes and communities. "Kanhaiya Singh and Udit Rai will cut into the votes of Randhir Kumar Singh. Mahagahthbandhan will be the loser. Dr saheb is liked by all. We will not face any problem," he says.
But another party insider is not so sure and says it is a very close contest. “There is a swing of votes and we are not sure which way it will go. We are monitoring it closely. His (Lalu) voters are not deserting him and Nitish Kumar is not facing any anti-incumbency. This is proving to be a big challenge,” says the BJP source.
RJD officials, too, admit to the fact that both Udit Rai and Kanhaiya Singh can cause a great deal of damage. But they are banking on Lalu’s charisma as well as Nitish Kumar’s track record.
Chhapra, the district headquarters of Saran, votes in the third phase on October 28 along with 49 other constituencies of Bihar.
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