Bihar Assembly Election 2020: Will this poll mark the return of RJD’s Nehaluddin in Rafiganj?
Rafiganj is among the Bihar’s constituencies which has never elected a leader from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Rafiganj, a seat that finds its origin back to 1951, will be electing its 17th member of Legislative Assembly in the upcoming Bihar assembly elections. This seat, which is under the Aurangabad parliamentary constituency, has seen a close fight between the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Janata Dal (United) in the last four state polls.
The JD(U)’s Ashok Kumar Singh, who is serving the constituency as a sitting MLA, has dominated the seat since 2005. Among the contesting political candidates, Rafiganj has seen Mohammad Nehaluddin from the RJD as a sitting MLA in February and October 2005. Political players for this state poll round include Kishor Kumar Singh from the JD(U), Mohammad Nehaluddin, Lok Janashakti Party’s (LJP) Manoj Singh and Ranjit Singh of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Rafiganj is among the Bihar’s constituencies which has never elected a leader from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The regional bastion for local parties and leaders will not see any BJP candidate fighting the Bihar assembly election this year.
The seat has a pool of close to 317,000 eligible voters. Out of this, men constitute 170,000 voters and women constitute 147,000 voters. The seat also has 16 transgender voters. Rafiganj is among the 71 constituencies in Bihar spread across 16 districts that will go to polls in the first phase on October 28. The results for Rafiganj seat will be announced on November 10 along with others.
In the three-phase Bihar assembly elections, which will be held on October 28, November 3 and November 7 for 243 seats, the opposition alliance of the RJD, Congress and the Left will take on the combine of the ruling JD(U), BJP, Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAMS and Mukesh Sahni’s Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP).
The Bihar assembly polls, seen as a mammoth exercise by political experts, will be the first in the country to be conducted by the Election Commission amid a raging coronavirus pandemic. The commission has introduced several guidelines keeping the viral contagion in consideration. People have been instructed to wear a mask during all election-related activities and thermal screening of everyone involved in the election exercises will be carried out by the EC officials. In a departure from the previous polling practices, only 1,000 voters will exercise their franchise at a particular booth, instead of 1,500.