Bettiah: The reputation of at least six sitting MLAs of the ruling NDA, including minister Renu Devi, is at stake, as nine constituencies of West Champaran district — considered its stronghold — go to poll in the second phase of the state assembly elections on Nov 11.The NDA holds eight of the nine assembly seats — JD(U) two and BJP remaining six — while the CPI(ML) of opposition Grand Alliance (GA) has one seat. In the 2020 elections, only Sikta assembly constituency went to CPI(ML)’s Birendra Gupta. At the time, the erstwhile LJP, which had split from the NDA, had contested two seats separately.This time, the BJP has fielded candidates in seven of the nine seats. There are, however, 10 candidates from the Grand Alliance fold — six Congress, two RJD, and one each of VIP and CPI(ML). Narkatiaganj assembly constituency is seeing a friendly fight between the Congress and RJD. New political entrant, Prasant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj, had fielded candidates in all nine seats, but the Valmikinagar candidate’s nomination was rejected.The BJP has given a ticket to former deputy CM and minister Renu Devi for fifth time in Bettiah constituency, Congress has changed its candidate and fielded Wasi Ahmed. In the 2020 elections, Renu had defeated Congress’s Madan Mohan Tiwari, the then MLA. In the 2015 elections, Tiwari had defeated Renu. This time, the contest, however, has become triangular and close with the entry of Independent candidate Rohit Sikariya.Similarly, Chanpatia constituency is also seeing a triangular contest with the entry of Manish Kashyap from Jan Suraaj. Otherwise, the major parties, BJP and Congress have repeated its candidates — sitting MLA Umakant Singh and Abhishek Ranjan respectively — facing each other for a second time. Among other sitting MLAs are the JD(U)’s Valmikinagar candidate Dhirendra Pratap Singh, who is contesting against Congress’s Surendra Prasad Kushwaha. In the 2020 elections, Singh had defeated Congress candidate Rajesh Singh.In Bagaha assembly constituency, the BJP’s sitting MLA, Ram Singh, is facing Congress candidate Jayesh Singh. In the previous election, Ram too had defeated Jayesh. In Lauriya constituency too, the BJP’s sitting MLA and former minister Vinay Bihari is facing his old rival, builder Ran Kaushal Pratap Singh, now a VIP candidate. Ran Kaushal, who is Bihar’s richest candidate, as per his poll affidavit, had previously contested the 2015 election on an RJD ticket, but was defeated by the BJP’s Bihari. In the 2020 elections, Bihari had defeated the RJD’s Shambhu Tiwari.In Nautan as well, the BJP has fielded sitting MLA and former minister Narayan Prasad, who had defeated Congress’s Sheikh Kamran last time. The Congress has changed its candidate and fielded Amit Kumar.In Ramnagar assembly constituency, however, the BJP has replaced its sitting MLA, Bhagirathi Devi, with a new candidate, Nandkishore Ram, a party worker. He faces former NCP MLA Subodh Kumar, who originally hails from Narkatiaganj. Subodh had won the assembly elections from Narkatiaganj in Feb 2005, defeating the BJP’s Bhagirathi. In Narkatiaganj also, the BJP has replaced its sitting MLA Rashmi Verma with Sanjay Pandey, a long-time BJP worker and former district president of Bettiah. Verma had defeated her brother-in-law, Congress’s Vinay Verma. This time, the Congress has also not nominated Vinay, instead fielded Shashwat Kedar, grandson of former CM Kedar Pandey. Meanwhile, the RJD has also nominated Deepak Yadav, making it a three-way contest.In Ramnagar, a close contest is expected between the BJP’s Nandkishore Ram and RJD candidate Subodh Kumar. Approximately 22,000 tribal voters in two panchayats, considered NDA cadre voters, have announced to boycott the election due to the govt’s unfulfilled promises of road and bridge construction.In Sikta, while the CPI(ML) has expressed confidence in its sitting MLA, the JD(U) has denied former minister Khurshid Alam’s a ticket, and nominated Samridh Verma, son of former MLA Dilip Verma instead. Alam was defeated by Gupta of the CPI(ML). This time, Alam has rebelled and is contesting as an Independent.Kundan Verma, a private school operator in Bettiah and keen political enthusiast, said that the NDA’s decision to field the sitting MLAs has created an atmosphere of anti-incumbency. “Despite this region being considered an NDA stronghold, this election is a close contest between the NDA and Grand Alliance. Had the sitting MLAs not been repeated, the NDA would have once again set a record here. However, this time, even NDA workers are unsure about how many seats they will be able to win. This is the first time in recent elections that several prominent BJP leaders have consistently held rallies. In the previous elections, rallies by just one or two prominent leaders had a significant impact,” he said.
