As Bihar heads into another crucial phase of voting, the spotlight is once again on several constituencies where the 2020 assembly elections were decided by razor-thin margins. Of the 121 seats going to the polls today, a handful are expected to attract special attention from both alliances -- simply because victory or defeat there once hinged on just a few hundred, and in some cases, a few dozen votes.
In the last election, 52 seats saw winners emerge with margins smaller than 5,000 votes. The tight races were spread across party lines -- 15 were claimed by Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), 13 by Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JD(U)), and nine by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). A dozen seats were decided by margins in the double or low triple digits.
Hilsa: 12 votes margin
Perhaps the most dramatic contest of 2020 unfolded in Hilsa, Nalanda district. JD(U)’s Krishnamurari Sharan had edged out RJD’s Shakti Singh Yadav by just 12 votes. Sharan polled 61,848 votes, compared to Yadav’s 61,836. Notably, Yadav had been the sitting MLA, sweeping the 2015 election with a commanding lead of more than 26,000 votes. It was the narrowest margin in Bihar after the result. Hilsa returns to the ballot today, under even tighter scrutiny.
Barbigha: 113 votes margin
Barbigha in Sheikhpura district was another nail-biter, where JD(U)’s Sudarshan Kumar defeated Independent candidate Chandan Kumar by a mere 113 votes, securing 39,878 ballots. Sudarshan Kumar, who had earlier switched from Congress to JD(U), is in the fray again -- this time as an Independent. The JD(U) has instead fielded Dr. Kumar Pushpanjay.
Begusarai: 333 votes margin
Over in Begusarai district, the Matihani constituency saw Lok Janshakti Party’s Rajkumar Singh scrape past JD(U)’s Narendra Kumar Singh by just 333 votes. Rajkumar Singh later joined the JD(U), adding a twist to the local political narrative. Another Begusarai seat, Bakhri -- reserved for Scheduled Castes -- also made it to the list of close finishes. CPI’s Suryakant Paswan had defeated BJP’s Ramshankar Paswan by a margin of just 777 votes.
Bachhwara: 484 votes margin
Bachhwara, another seat in Begusarai, was clinched by BJP’s Surendra Mahata, who defeated CPI’s Awadhesh Kumar Rai by 484 votes. Both men are squaring off once again this time, joined by Congress candidate Shiv Prakash Garib Das, who had finished a distant third in 2020.
Muzaffarpur: 712 votes margin
In Muzaffarpur district, Kurhani witnessed an equally narrow race. RJD’s Anil Kumar Sahni edged past BJP’s Kedar Prasad Gupta by 712 votes. However, Gupta bounced back in the 2022 by-election with a clear win and now serves as Panchayati Raj minister in Nitish Kumar’s government.
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