This story is from April 12, 2019

Triangular contest on cards in Kishanganj, Muslims hold key

Triangular contest on cards in Kishanganj, Muslims hold key
PATNA: Kishanganj Lok Sabha constituency is set to witness a triangular contest with AIMIM’s state chief Aktarul Haq Imam throwing his hat in the electoral ring. While Congress has fielded Kishanganj MLA Dr Javed as its party nominee, JD(U) has nominated Mahmood Asraf as its candidate from the seat.
In 2014 general election, Mohammad Asrarul Haq of Congress had won the seat by defeating BJP’s Dilip Kumar Jaiswal by a margin of 1.94 lakh votes.
While Haq secured 4,93,849 votes, Jaiswal had polled 2,98,849 voted only.
The seat fell vacant after the death of Haq following a cardiac arrest in December 2018. The voter turnout was 60.51% across 1,365 polling booths in 2014. Around 60% electorate in the constituency are Muslims. This is the reason why of the 14 contestants in fray, eight are Muslims this time.
In 2009 also, Asrarul Haq, also known as Maulana Asrul Haq Kazmi, had emerged triumphant by securing 2,39,405 votes. His nearest rival Mohammad Asraf had managed to secure 1,59,136 votes only.
While an RJD heavyweight and former Union minister, Mohammad Taslimuddin, had represented the seat thrice in 1996, 1998 and 2004, Haq won twice – in 2009 and 2014. A few other prominent leaders, such as Syed Shahabuddin (1985 and 1991) and Shahnawaz Hussain (1999) had won the seat.
Mohammad Shari-ul-Haq, an RJD leader, said, “Only one non-Muslim candidate, Lakhan Lal Kapoor (Praja Socialist Party), has been elected from this constituency and that too way back in 1967. The seat is considered to be a bastion of the Congress, which has registered its victory eight times since 1957, when the constituency came into existence.”

What is important to mention here is that all the six assembly segments under Kishanganj Lok Sabha constituency are being represented by people belonging to Minority community. Of 30 MLAs in five Lok Sabha constituencies in Seemanchal region, 18 are from NDA. But JD(U), which is now part of NDA, had contested 2015 assembly poll with RJD and Congress.
While 13 seats were won by JD(U), remaining five seats had gone to the kitty of BJP in the 2015 assembly election in the region. “Going by this statistics, the NDA seems to be in a better position in the five constituencies going to the polls in the second phase on April 18. However, one must keep in mind general election and assembly election are two different ball games,” said Bhagwan Lal Singh, a retired teacher of B N Mandal university.
Altogether nine candidates are in the fray in Kishanganj. However, AIMIM’s Akhtarul Imam, who is known as ‘Owaisi of Seemanchal’, is trying to make the contest triangular. The demise of two prominent leaders of Seemanchal – Md Taslimuddin and Asrarul Haq – has provided Imam an opportunity to fill the vacancy.
Kishanganj constituency covers Bahadurganj, Thakurganj, Kishanganj, Kochdhaman, Amour and Baisi assembly segments. Of the 16,52,940 electorate, 8,55,664 are Muslims and 7,97,215 women. There are 58 third gender voters in the constituency.
Congress nominee Javed said, “This is our traditional seat. Things will go on expected lines this time also. Local issues don’t matter. Congress president Rahul Gandhi had launched his election campaign in the state from Purnia in Seemanchal in February.” Javed said the manifesto of the party has made its stand clear on national issues.
On the other hand, NDA’s nominee Masood Asraf said, “The NDA is banking on development works carried out in the region during its rule. No other issue except development will dominate the scene here.”
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