In This Bihar Seat, Tejashwi Yadav Will Campaign Against RJD's Candidate

Confusion and disagreements within the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar has led to a bizarre situation at a constituency in Darbhanga district, where Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav will campaign against a candidate contesting the polls on his party's symbol.

Mahagathbandhan partners struggled to find a consensus during seat-sharing and some differences could not be ironed out till the end. Owing to this, several seats in Bihar will see 'friendly fights' in which Mahagathbandhan allies are up against each other.

But in Darbhanga's Gaura Bauram, the side-effect of this hard-bargaining has reached an extreme. Before the seat-sharing within the Opposition bloc was finalised, RJD had decided to field its leader Afzal Ali Khan from Gaura Bauram. The party leadership gave Afzal its symbol and documents that declare him as the RJD candidate.

A delighted Afzal then left for his constituency, about a 4-hour journey from Patna, eager to kick start his campaign. By the time he was home, backroom managers in RJD and Mukesh Sahni's Vikassheel Insaan Party sealed a seat-sharing deal. As part of this pact, Gaura Bauram would go in the VIP's kitty and all Mahagathbandhan partners will support its candidate Santosh Sahni.

The RJD leadership reached out to Afzal Ali Khan and urged him to return its symbol and back off from the fight. He refused. The RJD leader went ahead and filed his nomination as the party's candidate. The RJD leadership informed poll authorities that the party does not endorse Afzal Ali Khan's candidature, but the authorities said they cannot remove Afzal Ali Khan from the race considering he has filed his nomination with proper documentation.

So, now the RJD's lantern symbol will be next to Afzal Ali Khan's name on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), and Tejashwi Yadav will campaign against the candidate representing the RJD symbol. While the Mahagathbandhan allies, including the RJD, will throw their weight behind the VIP candidate Santosh Sahni, a confusion due to Afzal Ali Khan's candidature is likely to impact the results.

Earlier, during the Lok Sabha election, a similar situation had emerged in Rajasthan's Banswara. The Congress initially fielded Arvind Damor as its candidate. Later, the opposition party decided to back Bharat Adivasi Party candidate Rajkumar Roat and asked Damot to return its symbol. Damot disappeared and only returned after the deadline. This led to Congress leaders campaigning against a candidate holding the party's 'hand' symbol. Eventually, Roat won the election, but Damot still managed to get over 60,000 votes. In close contests, such confusion could swing results.

The Gaura Bauram seat went to VIP's Swarna Singh in the 2020 Bihar polls, but Singh later switched to BJP. In the 2010 and the 2015 polls, JDU won the seat.

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