Tough contest likely between GA, NDA on J’bad & Arwal seats

GAYA: The ruling NDA and the Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance (GA) are likely to engage in a close contest on five seats of Jehanabad and neighbouring Arwal districts in south Bihar.
The five assembly segments of the two districts — Jehanabad, Ghosi, Makhdumpur, Arwal and Kurtha — will go to the polls in the first phase on October 28. “The BJP will contest from Jehanabad town and Makhdumpur this time,” the party’s Jehanabad district president Suresh Sharma said.
The HAM (S) is also staking its claim for the Makhdumpur seat.Party spokesperson Rajesh Pandey said, “In 2015, the HAM (S) had lost Makhdumpur and Ghosi. Krishna Nandan Verma of the JD (U) had defeated Rahul Kumar, son of veteran politician Jagdish Sharma, who represented Ghosi for eight terms.”
Meanwhile, the RJD also intends to contest on all the three seats in Jehanabad district. “There is a strong demand of party workers to contest on all the three seats in the district,” said RJD Jehanabad unit principal general secretary Paramhans Roy.
As per the seat-sharing arrangement in the Mahagathbandhan in the 2015 assembly elections, the Congress did not contest any of the five seats in Jehanabad and Arwal.
“However, this time party workers want to put up their candidates from Ghosi in Jehanabad and Kurtha in Arwal,” Congress Magadh zone spokesman Vijay Kumar Mithu said.
Arwal district BJP president Ajay Paswan said party workers are keen to contest from Arwal seat. “I have informed the state leadership, who have to take a final decision, about the workers’ feelings,” he added.
The JD (U) is also keen to contest from its incumbent seats Ghosi and Kurtha, Jehanabad district president Chandeshwar Bind said. “The state leadership has been apprised of the demands of grassroots workers,” he said.
In the 2015 assembly elections, it was a clean sweep for the GA in Jehanabad and Arwal districts, as the NDA had failed to open its account. Then, the RJD and the JD (U) were partners of the GA. While the RJD had won two out of the three seats in Jehanabad, it was one each for both the partners in Arwal.
Even former chief minister and HAM (S) president Jitan Ram Manjhi had to face defeat from Subedar Das of the RJD in Makhdumpur (reserve). HAM (S) was then a partner of the NDA. This time, however, the JD (U) and the RJD are likely to face each other on at least two out of the five seats in the two districts of south Bihar.