RJD, a major component of the India alliance in the Lok Sabha elections, may have to give up its claim on at least half a dozen seats this time compared to the last Lok Sabha elections in 2019. Last time in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, RJD had fielded its candidates on 19 out of 40 seats in the state. RJD is the main component of the India alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. JDU is also a big stakeholder in this. JDU has 16 seats in the Lok Sabha.
At the same time, the number of parties in the alliance has also changed. Churning is going on within the party on the seats of Madhepura, Vaishali, Banka, Shivhar, Saran, Begusarai, Patliputra and Buxar. Although there has been no official statement from any party on the distribution of seats, sources say that homework is going on internally among the constituent parties of the India Alliance. In such a situation, in the distribution of seats, RJD may have to give up some seats compared to last time. The possibility of exchange of some seats and change of candidates on some is also not being ruled out.
RJD President Lalu Prasad has claimed victory of India Alliance on all 40 seats of Bihar. In such a situation, the party is preparing to field the winning candidate on whatever seats RJD gets in the division. If experts are to be believed, some senior leaders can also be made candidates to give competition to BJP. A seat like Vaishali is considered vacant for RJD this time. Last time, former Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh was made the candidate from this seat. Despite getting more than three lakh 32 thousand votes, RJD could not win the election from this seat. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh died in later days.
In such a situation, the party is searching for a strong leader on this seat. In 2019, RJD had made Gulab Yadav its candidate for Jhanjharpur seat. Gulab Yadav got more than 2.79 lakh votes, but his nearest rival JDU’s Rampreet Mandal got more than six lakh votes. This time both the parties are together. Due to this also the party may have to lose the Jhanjharpur seat. Experts say that even if the seat is secured, there is every possibility of the candidate being changed. Former Union Minister Sharad Yadav was the candidate in the 2019 elections on Madhepura seat. Sharad Yadav got about 3.25 lakh votes. His nearest rival Dinesh Yadav of JDU had got 6.25 lakh votes. Sharad Yadav is no more in this world. For this reason, Madhepura seat is being considered as out of RJD’s kitty.
Candidates were fielded on 19 seats in 2019
Similarly, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the party had made the current state president Jagdanand Singh the candidate for Buxar seat. Singh had got more than three and a half lakh votes. This time the party is looking for a strong candidate to stop BJP from winning for the third time. The party’s first choice this time too may be Jagdanand Singh, but due to his increasing age he may not be ready to contest the elections, so the party may have the option of making his MLA son a candidate.
Last time, Lalu-Rabri’s daughter Misa Bharti was the party’s candidate for Patliputra seat. He had got about thirty thousand votes less than BJP’s Ramkripal Yadav. Misa Bharti got around four lakh 68 thousand votes and Ramkripal Yadav got more than five lakh votes. Misa Bharti is currently a member of Rajya Sabha. In such a situation, there is doubt about the party’s candidate for Patliputra seat.
RJD’s Jaiprakash Yadav has been winning elections from Banka. Last time he was defeated by JDU’s Girdhari Yadav. This time RJD may have to give up the allure of this seat. Similarly, last time Chandrika Rai was made the candidate for Saran seat. This time there is speculation that a member of the Lalu family will be fielded. At the same time, in Begusarai seat, RJD was embroiled in a triangular struggle last time and had to be content with the third position. Along with RJD, CPI’s Kanhaiya was also a candidate from here. This time Kanhaiya has joined Congress.