Lok Sabha elections 2024: We shall overcome, cries Left in Bihar, but can they?

Left leaders are somewhat optimistic of replanting the red flag in Bihar

Facing dampeners at the hustings in states it once dominated, Left leaders are somewhat optimistic of replanting the red flag in Bihar. The euphoria from a favourable mandate in assembly elections 2022 still lingers, and they want to believe that they will finally overcome a poll drought by wresting away a seat or two among the state’s 40 in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

In 2022, candidates of the three prominent Left parties won 16 of the 29 assembly constituencies they contested in Bihar. The Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation or CPI(ML)L pulled off the biggest success with victories in 12 of the 19 constituencies they contested. The Communist Party of India or CPI, and Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M), annexed two each of the six and four seats they contested respectively. The Left was part of the Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress, as it is now.

In the upcoming Parliamentary elections too, the Left parties are contesting as constituents of the Opposition INDIA bloc. They hope that consolidation of votes against the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) – led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and once-ally Janata Dal (United) – will lend them an electoral edge.

Some argue that in this alliance, despite the setting of the red sun, collectively the Left may still have considerable support in a few Lok Sabha seats. But how far can they influence poll outcome – that is the pertinent question. They have been facing political and poll drought in Bihar like elsewhere in the country despite the tall leaders of yore in the state like A K Roy, Ajit Sarkar, Chaturanan Mishra, Bhogendra Jha, among several others.

A K Roy gained popularity in and around Dhanbad (then in Bihar) with his work among tribals and colliery workers. The former engineer gave up his job to dive into politics and represented Dhanbad (now in Jharkhand) constituency twice in Lok Sabha (1977-79 and 1980-84). He was earlier elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly three times between 1967 and 1974. He represented the Marxist Coordination, a party he founded after quitting the CPI(M) in 1971.

Ajit Sarkar of the CPI(M) represented Purnia four times in the Bihar Legislative Assembly between 1980 and 1998. He was shot dead on June 14 with two others in the same constituency that elected him for close to two decades.

This assembly constituency is now represented by Vijay Kumar Khemka of the BJP who beat his closest Congress rival by over 32,000 votes in 2022. There were no Left candidates in the six assembly segments of Purnia Lok Sabha seat, which went to Santosh Kumar of the JD(U) in 2019.

Another Left leader who was also allegedly shot dead due to political reasons was Chandrashekar Prasad of the CPI (ML)L. The student leader was assassinated in March 1997 at a street-corner meeting in Siwan.

Trade Unionist Chaturanan Mishra of the CPI had served as the Agriculture Minister of India (July 1996 to March 1998) in the United Front government. Before that, he was Member of the Legislative Assembly of Bihar between 1969 and 1980 from Giridih (now in Jharkhand). He was also a Rajya Sabha member twice, between 1984–1996.

Similarly, Bhogendra Jha was a CPI leader who was elected to Lok Sabha from Madhubani three times. Otherwise, no other Left candidate could ever win this seat, which is currently held by the BJP.

In Lok Sabha elections, the last time that any Left party won a seat in Bihar was way back in 1999 when CPI(M) candidate Subodh Rai won from Bhagalpur. In the past quarter of a century, the red brigade has been unsuccessful in the state; comrades returned empty handed in subsequent Parliamentary polls of 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019.

In the 2022 elections, there were no Left candidates at the seven assembly segments of Bhagalpur. While its alliance partners RJD and Congress won one assembly seat each, two went to Janata Dal (United), and three to BJP.

In Lok Sabha elections 2024, the Left is contesting in five of the state’s 40 Parliamentary constituencies. Alliance partners RJD and the Congress are contesting 26 and nine seats respectively.

The CPI(ML)L has fielded its candidates from three seats – Arrah, Karakat, and Nalanda – while the CPI and CPI(M) are contesting one each – Begusarai, and Khagaria respectively.

In the past, the CPI(ML)L’s Rameshwar Prasad had won the Arrah Lok Sabha seat in 1989 as an Indian People's Front candidate. The present candidate, Sudama Prasad is CPI(ML)L sitting legislator from the same Lok Sabha constituency’s Tarari assembly segment. He is pitted against Union Cabinet Minister R K Singh who won both 2014 and 2019 polls. In 2019, CPI(ML)L candidate Raju Yadav lost to Singh by nearly 1.5 lakh votes.

Apart from Tarari, among the other six segments, CPI(ML)L leader Manoj Manzil currently represents Agiaon constituency in the Bihar legislative assembly. Perhaps the party believes assembly results will boost the number of votes in their favour in the coming Lok Sabha election in Arrah.

Another sitting CPI(ML)L legislator in Lok Sabha fray is Sandeep Saurav, representing Paliganj Bihar Legislative Assembly. He is the fray from Nalanda against JD(U) sitting MP Kaushalendra Kumar, who won in 2019 by a margin of over 2.5 lakh votes, polling more than 52% of valid votes.

In Karakat, the CPI(ML) has nominated its former MLA Raja Ram Singh. The Opposition bloc has reasons to take it as a safe bet with the Karakat assembly segment going in favour of the CPI(ML)L and the other five to its ally, the RJD. However, the Lok Sabha seat is currently held by Mahabali Singh of the JD(U).

This time, Raja Ram Singh will be up against former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha, leader of Rashtriya Lok Morcha, an NDA. Moreover, the presence of an AIMIM candidate may result in dividing Muslim votes in the constituency. And then there is the adage that assembly election results may not always reflect Lok Sabha outcome.

Meanwhile, CPI has fielded its former MLA Awadhesh Kumar Rai from Begusarai, where he will take on Union Minister Giriraj Singh. Rai won from the constituency’s Bachwara segment (1990, 1995, and 2010). In the last assembly elections, Rai lost to BJP’s Surendra Mehata by only 737 votes.

Begusarai is touted as a red bastion; but eloquent public speaker Kanhaiya Kumar failed to book a seat in Parliament from this seat in 2019 on a CPI ticket. He lost by over four lakh votes to Giriraj Singh. Earlier, this seat was again held by the BJP (2014), and JD(U) (2019).

Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union’s former president Kanhaiya Kumar has since shifted his allegiance to the Congress.

The CPI(M) has fielded Sanjay Kumar from Khagaria parliamentary constituency.

Post script

Among the so-called mass songs popularised by Left cadres is ‘We Shall Overcome’, the yearning for which, and determining whether the light red crescent – left by what was once a crimson sun – will wax or wane further thus lies with mandate 2024.