In fact, it will be more telling for the saffron party, as of the 21 constituencies that will go to polling in May, the BJP has incumbent MPs on 15 of these
With five Union ministers in the fray in the last three phase of Lok Sabha election in Bihar, the coming poll days will be no less than a litmus test for the BJP to defend its fiefdom. In fact, it will be more telling for the saffron party, as of the 21 constituencies that will go to polling in May, the BJP has incumbent MPs on 15 of these.
In 2014, then BJP-led-National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had won 20 of the 21 seats as the RLSP had bagged three and the LJP two of it. The only seat lost by the NDA was Nalanda, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's home district, which was won by the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), now a BJP-ally.
"The final three phases are very important as we need to retain as many seats as we can and even though we are only contesting on 12 seats, we need to ensure that our votes are transferred to our allies and we are able to gain maximum numbers," a senior BJP leader in Patna said and added, "Apart from coordination among workers at the grassroots, senior leaders are holding joint public meetings in almost all constituencies to spread the good work of the government and give the message of unity to our voters."
This time, while the BJP is contesting 12 seats, ally JD-U had contestants on seven and LJP had retained its two seats of these 21 seats. As per the seat-division in NDA for the 40 Lok Sabha constituencies of Bihar, both BJP and JD-U are fighting on 17 seats each, while the LJP is contesting on six.
The union ministers fighting it out in the final phases are - Ravi Shankar Prasad (Patna Sahib), Ram Kripal Yadav (Pataliputra), R K Singh (Ara), Ashwini Choubey (Buxar) and Radha Mohan Singh (Purvi Champaran).
The most interesting contest is likely to be witnessed in Patna Sahib where actor-turned politician and BJP rebel Shatrughan Sinha is up against Prasad, both vying for the Kayastha votes in the constituency. A similar fight will be seen in neighbouring Pataliputra seat, where Yadav is defending his seat from RJD MP Misa Bharti, and a division is Yadav votes is likely possibility.
The Saran Lok Sabha seat, believed to be a pocket-borough of the RJD's first family, will also see an interesting contest between ex-minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy and RJD's Chandrika Rai, father-in-law of Tej Pratap Yadav, who has been asking people to vote against Rai.
So far as the Grand Alliance is concerned, the RJD is contesting on a maximum of 11 seats, while Congress and RLSP have candidates on three each, VIP on two and HAM-S on 1 seat. They are supporting Left candidate Raju Yadav on the Ara seat, against Union minister R K Singh. Much is also at stake for ex-Union minister and RLSP Upendra Kushwaha, who is fighting to retain Karakat constituency against JD-U's Mahabali Singh.
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