Darbhanga Lok Sabha constituency: Candidates for 2019 LS poll, past results, all updates

Darbhanga Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 40 parliamentary constituencies in Bihar and will go to polls in the fourth phase of the general elections on April 29. 

Darbhanga parliamentary constituency is part of Darbhanga district of Bihar. The parliamentary constituency comprises six Assembly constituencies -  Gaura Bauram, Benipur, Alinagar, Darbhanga Rural, Darbhanga and Bahdurpur.

The sitting MP of Darbhanga Lok Sabha seat is Kirti Azad who won on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket in 2014 but has now joined the Congress party. He defeated Mohammad Ali Ashraf Fatmi of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) with a margin of 35,000 votes.

This was third term of Azad in Lok Sabha who had earlier won in 1999 and 2009. Fatmi, considered a Muslim leader in the region, won from here 1991, 1996, 1998 and 2004 - twice as Janata Dal candidate and twice as RJD candidate. 

The seat a major source of disagreement among Bihar Mahagathbandhan constituents - RJD and Congress - as Azad wanted to contest from here but Lalu Yada-led party wanted to field its veteran leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui.

Azad had to shift out and has been fielded from Dhanbad Lok Sabha constituency in Jharkhand after the seat was given to the RJD as part of the seat-sharing arrangement for the alliance in the state. Azad, who was suspended by the ruling BJP for anti-party activities, had joined the Congress in February. 

Fatmi turned a rebel with Siddiqui's candidature and quit the RJD. He then entered the fray from Madhubani Lok Sabha seat on a BSP ticket but later withdrew his nomination.

RJD's Abdul Bari Siddiqui, who has the support of alliance partners - Congress, HAM, RLSP and VIP - is facing BJP's Gopal Ji Thakur.

While Janata Dal (United) is part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which comprises of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), the Bihar Mahagathbandhan comprises Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM) and Vikasshil Insan Party (VIP).

The Congress got nine constituencies as per the seat-sharing arrangements, while the RJD has 20 out of which it has forgone Ara in favour of the CPI(ML), which has returned the favour by announcing that the ultra-Left outfit would not field its candidate from Pataliputra, which would be contested by Lalu Prasad's eldest daughter Misa Bharti. 

Besides, Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP is contesting five seats and Jitan Ram Manjhis HAM is fighting three. The VIP, founded and headed by Bollywood set designer-turned-politician Mukesh Sahni, has got three seats out of the 40 in Bihar.

The polling on this seat will be held in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 29. Five constituencies of Bihar's 40 Lok Sabha seats - Darbhanga, Ujiarpur, Samastipur, Begusarai and Munger - will go to polls in the fourth phase. 

The results of the  Lok Sabha election 2019 will be declared on May 23.