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

Madhubani, one of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, goes to polls in the fifth phase of general elections on May 6. The sitting MP of Madhubani is BJP's Hukum Deo Narayan Yadav who won from the seat for the third time in 2014. 

In the state where several opposition parties have come together to challenge ruling NDA, this seat was at the centre of the rebellion with two leaders - Congress' Shakeel Ahmed and RJD's Mohd Ali Ashraf Fatmi - making the contest triangular. 

Fatmi, who had quit RJD and had entered the fray on a BSP ticket, later withdrew his nomination citing the refusal of Ahmed to do so and apprehending a split in votes benefiting the BJP candidate.

Ahmed, an ex-MP from Madhubani, is in the fray as an Independent after the Congress refused to accept his request for a "friendly fight" in the seat which has gone to fledgling outfit VIP as per seat-sharing arrangements within the 'Mahagathbandhan'. 

Fatmi had been hoping to be considered for Madhubani after the RJD fielded senior leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui from Darbhanga which he has represented four times.

When Madhubani too went to another candidate a former small-time RJD leader Badrinath Purve Fatmi registered his protest by resigning from various posts he held in the party and announcing that he would contest from the seat.

He subsequently gave up the primary membership as well, though his son is still an RJD MLA, alleging that the partys de facto leader Tejashwi Yadav told him that he was being suspended for six years in a manner that was so rough and rude.

Fatmi made it clear my decision has nothing to do with any pestering on the part of RJD and Tejashwi. I am no more a member of that party and have nothing to do with what its members or leaders say. I took the decision to contest on the request of my numerous supporters and it is at their insistence that I have withdrawn.

Currently held by BJP's Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav whose son Ashok Yadav is the party candidate this time, Madhubani goes to polls in the fifth phase of general elections on May 6. After Fatmi's withdrawal, there are 17 candidates left in Madhubani.

After losing twice - in 1996 and 1998 - Yadav won the seat in 1999 by defeating sitting MP Shakil Ahmed but lost to him again in the next election in 2004. Yadav, however, won back the seat in 2009 and retained in 2014. 

The parliamentary constituency comprises six Vidhan Sabha segments: Harlakhi, Benipatti, Bisfi, Madhubani, Keoti and Jale.

The contest in Bihar is mostly two-way with NDA pitted against Mahagathbandhan. 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 fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections on May 6. Five constituencies of Bihar's 40 Lok Sabha seats - Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Saran, Hajipur and Sitamarhi - will go to polls in the third phase. A total of 82 candidates are in fray in the five constituencies that would go to polls.

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

(With PTI inputs)