BY-Election Bihar Assembly in 2 Seats in Kusheshwar Asthan & Tarapur Assembly

The BY-Election in Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur assembly sea necessitated following the death of JD(U) MLAs

The ruling NDA seeks to retain both the seats, which have fallen vacant after the death of their MLAs of Shashi Bhusha Hajari & Mewalal Choudhari. faced with a feeble challenge put up by a scattered opposition.

A high-voltage campaign is expected. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who will be spearheading the campaign by the party, has expressed hope that doctors in Delhi will permit Lalu Prasad, his father, to visit Bihar during the by-poll.

The Congress too is looking forward to a zingy campaign in the backdrop of recent induction of Kanhaiya Kumar, who is often perceived as a potential rival of Tejashwi Yadav. He is expected to campaign for the party in both constituencies.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), which had won both the seats in the assembly poll in 2020, has fielded candidates for Tarapur as well as the reserved Kusheshwar Asthan seats.

Tarapur MLA Mewa Lal Chaudhary had lost his life in the COVID surge earlier this year. JD(U)‘s bid to retain the seat in the coming by-poll is being challenged by RJD‘s Arun Kumar and Rajesh Mishra of the Congress.

Kusheshwar Asthan Assembly, JD(U) has fielded Aman Bhushan Hazari, son of three-time MLA Shashi Bhushan Hazari whose death necessitated the by-poll.

Congress has fielded Atirek Kumar, son of Ashok Ram who had fought on the party ticket in the assembly poll and had finished runner up. The RJD has fielded Ganesh Bharti, LJP– Chirag Paswan

Notably, the assembly polls were fought by the RJD and the Congress together. For the by-poll, RJD came out with an early announcement of candidates for both the seats much to the shock of the Congress, which was hoping to fight Kusheshwar Asthan with the support of its mightier ally.

RJD sources said the decision to contest both seats followed the “dismal” performance of the Congress in the assembly seats when it fought 70, won less than 20, and was blamed by all partners for the Grand Alliance falling short of a majority.

However, RJD‘s contention that the Congress “could not win” the seat, left the latter mortified and it decided to fight both constituencies in a frantic bid to shed the image of a spent force.

Left parties – CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(ML) – which had contested as part of the five-party Grand Alliance headed by RJD, have announced full support to Lalu Prasad’s party.