Bihar’s Kishanganj braces for a three-corner fight

Kishanganj is the only district of northeast Bihar where the Muslim population is over 68%. It was also the only parliamentary seat that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) lost in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

The Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) candidate Mohammad Jawed (Congress) won the seat, while the Janata Dal (United) and All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen candidates secured the second and third positions, pushing the NDA further down.

This time around, the BJP-led NDA has been predicting that it would win all 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. Working towards this goal, Kishanganj may still prove to be tricky. Perhaps why the NDA has changed its candidate, fielding Mujahid Alam of the JD(U) in the place of Syed Mahmood Ashraf. However, the Congress and AIMIM have posed their faith in their previous candidates, Mr. Jawed and Akhtarul Iman, respectively.

The sitting Congress MP appears to be headed for a tough fight with AIMIM’s candidate even as the NDA candidate struggles to stay in the race. “Whatever be the result of Kishanganj seat this time, the NDA is not going to win all 40 seats in Bihar because of this constituency,” Mohd. Ahaduddin of Baisi area affirmed to The Hindu.

Among the four Seemanchal (border) districts of northeastern Bihar (Katihar, Araria, Kishanganj and Purnea), Kishanganj has the highest Muslim population (68% of its 17 lakh population); its Hindu population is 31%. It shares a border with Bangladesh and West Bengal. In the 2019 election, 1.06% of the voters had opted for NOTA (none of the above); it had come down from the 1.08% in the 2014 election. In 2019, Bihar was the State that had the highest NOTA vote share of 2%, followed by Andhra Pradesh (1.54%) and Chhattisgarh (1.44%).

Kishanganj Lok Sabha seat comprises six Assembly constituencies — Kishanganj, Thakurganj, Bahadurganj, Kochadhamnan, Baisi and Amour. Four of them are represented by Rashtriya Janata Dal while AIMIM and Congress hold the Amour and Kisangani segments, respectively. The four RJD MLAs had won the 2020 Assembly elections as AIMIM candidates but later switched to the RJD.

Public sympathy is with me: Iman

“Since I represent Amour in the Assembly, I have no problem there but I have to campaign hard in Baisi and Thakurganj areas,” Mr. Iman told The Hindu on Tuesday just before leaving for a campaign at 9 a.m., escorted by his bodyguards; his residence was merely yards away from his election office in the Singhia Sultanpur area.

“This time the election result from Kishanganj is going to be different. The public sympathy is also with me as I became loyal to the party unlike other MLAs,” he said.

About voters’ affinity to the NOTA option, he said, “It is because of lack of awareness about their political rights. NOTA is not a solution to any problem.”

He added that party president Asaduddin Owaisi will be visiting soon to campaign for him though his “schedule has not been fixed yet”.

Will repeat victory: Jawed

Congress’s Mr. Jawed, however, had stepped out earlier than his AIMIM rival to campaign in some “local area of the town”. “You see, there is very less time left for campaigning and I am going to some local area where I cannot offer you to come along,” he said while sitting in the front seat of his SUV.

When asked why there was “huge” resentment against him among the voters of Kishanganj, he was quick to clarify, “There is no such thing… I am going to repeat my victory from the seat.”

Will he challenge his rival NDA candidate to bring in top BJP leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Home Minister Amit Shah to campaign for him in the Muslim-dominated Kishanganj constituency? “Why should I challenge him… Let them come,” he said, zooming past with a smile.

A divided voter base

“The promises made by Mohd. Jawed in the last 2019 Lok Sabha poll were not fulfilled and that is why there is resentment against him. But the election in Kishanganj is not fought on the issues of development or caste, only on religion; so, he is contesting [against] the AIMIM candidate,” senior journalist Awadhesh Kumar said.

“Among the Muslims, there is Surjapuri and Shershahbadi and among the majority Surjapuri, there is another faction of Sripuri Muslims. The Surjapuri and Sripuri constitute over 60% of the Muslim population while Shershahbadi are known as ‘infiltrators’ from neighbouring Bangladesh and are less in number,” he explained. “Surjapuri and Sripuri Muslim voters are supporting either the Congress or the AIMIM candidate while the JD(U) candidate Mujahid Alam will get Shershahbadi Muslims’ support. One can guess the tussle easily this time in the poll arena,” he remarked.