Bihar: Second phase of Lok Sabha polls notified

  • | Wednesday | 20th March, 2019

By: RamashankarPATNA: The Election Commission on Tuesday issued a notification for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls scheduled on April 18.Five constituencies—Purnia, Katihar, Kishanganj, Banka and Bhagalpur—will go to the polls in the second phase. Upper caste voters constitute a meagre 5%, according to sources.The second phase is considered tough for the security forces due to the topography of Kosi region. Only one nomination was filed from Aurangabad on the first day of the first phase of election slated for April 11. Kushwaha had won the election from the constituency as a JD(U) nominee in 2014 despite Modi wave across the country. Besides, it shares its borders with Nepal and Bangladesh.The notification for the first phase was issued on March 18.

By: RamashankarPATNA: The Election Commission on Tuesday issued a notification for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls scheduled on April 18.Five constituencies—Purnia, Katihar, Kishanganj, Banka and Bhagalpur—will go to the polls in the second phase. The process of filing nominations for the second phase will conclude on March 26. while the scrutiny for the same will be done on March 27, the last day of withdrawing nominations is March 29.JD(U) MP from Purnia Santosh Kushwaha filed his papers from the Purnia Lok Sabha constituency on the first day of the nomination even though the NDA is yet to announce the name of candidates. Kushwaha had won the election from the constituency as a JD(U) nominee in 2014 despite Modi wave across the country. He had defeated his nearest rival Uday Singh alias Pappu Singh of BJP, a two-term MP from Purnia.In fact, the JD(U) had won only two seats in the previous Lok Sabah election and Purnia was one of them.Nearly 55% of the voters in the constituency belong to SC/ST category. While 30% voters are Muslims, 10% belong to the OBC category. Upper caste voters constitute a meagre 5%, according to sources.The second phase is considered tough for the security forces due to the topography of Kosi region. The region is not only crime-prone but also Maoist-hit. Besides, it shares its borders with Nepal and Bangladesh.The notification for the first phase was issued on March 18. Only one nomination was filed from Aurangabad on the first day of the first phase of election slated for April 11. Som Prakash, a former Independent MLA from Obra in Aurangabad, had submitted his papers for the Rajput-dominated Aurangabad constituency.The four-day holiday (from March 21 to 24) coupled with delay in seat-sharing in the Grand Alliance and selection of candidates in the NDA has left the candidates in a lurch. Sources said many probable candidates such as former CM and HAM (S) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi and LJP sitting MP from Jamui Chirag Paswan would file their nominations from Gaya (SC) and Jamui (SC) on March 25 respectively.The last date for filing nominations for the first phase is March 25. Gaya, Aurangabad, Jamui and Nawada, all in the Magadh region, will go to polls in the first phase, the notification of which was issued by the EC on March 18. All the four constituencies are considered to be vulnerable from security point of view as they have been declared Maoist-hit.According to additional chief electoral officer Sanjay Kumar Singh said, “Altogether eight nominations have been filed till Tuesday. While five nominations were filed from Aurangabad, one from Nawada and two were filed from Purnia LS seat.”Both NDA and Grand Alliance nominees will get only two weeks for canvassing. “The parties have already asked the candidates to start electioneering in their respective constituencies. In some of the constituencies, wives of probable candidates have taken over the job in absence of their husbands,” said a senior RLSP leader.

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