Sitamarhi Lok Sabha Constituency: Candidates for 2019 LS poll, past results, all updates

Sitamarhi, one of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, is held by Ram Kumar Sharma of Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP which was with the NDA till December last year before gravitating towards the Mahagathbandhan. 

After being denied a ticket, Sharma has revolted and has been seen in NDA meetings. However, he is not contesting and the NDA candidate is Sunil Kumar alias Pintu of the JD(U).

From the Mahagathbandhan, the candidate is veteran socialist leader Arjun Rai who had won the seat on a JD(U) ticket in 2009 but finished a distant third five years later when the party fought separately from the NDA. He has been now fielded by the RJD, which was the runner-up last time. 

There are a total of 20 candidates on this seat.

The contest is going to be fierce between the two main parties and it seems RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is being missed here too, just like other parts of the state. 

Pintu, a four-time MLA and a former minister in the NDA government in Bihar, recently switched to the JD(U) from the BJP. 

Ram Babu Yadav (50), a farmer in Sitamarhi, said, "Laluji's absence is being felt, but Yadavs are with RJD's Rai." But, for Sravan Kumar (44), a shopkeeper in Gopalpur village, votes will go in the name of Modi."There is a Modi wave. India's reputation increased globally during Modiji's tenure," he opined. 

In the 2014 polls, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party's (RLSP) Ram Kumar Sharma fetched 4,11,265 votes and defeated his rival RJD's Sitaram Yadav, who secured 2,63,300 votes. 

In 2009 polls, Dr Arjun Roy of Janata Dal (United) had won from here in 2009 but lost in 2014 to RLSP candidate. RJD's Sitaram Yadav won the seat twice - 1998 and 2004. JD(U)'s Nawal Kishore Rai won from Sitamarhi Lok Sabha constituency in 1991, 1996 and 1999. 

The Sitamarhi Lok Sabha constituency comprises six assembly segments -- Bathnaha, Parihar, Sursand, Bajpatti, Sitamarhi, Runnisaidpur, Sonabarsa -- and goes to polls Monday.

The contest in Bihar is two-way in most seats 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.