Chirag Paswan and Nitish Kumar
Nitish Kumar’s party is again afraid of playing Chirag mode in the Tirhut Legislative Council by-election in Bihar. In fact, during the Legislative Council by-election in Tirhut, which is considered the stronghold of JDU, Rakesh Roshan, who is close to Chirag Paswan, has defected and joined the fray.
JDU was worried that Roshan’s introduction would spoil the game. However, the JDU has not made any official statement on Roshan’s candidature so far.
This time, these 4 leading candidates are in the running
This time there are four candidates running in the Tierhut by-election. Janata Dal United has named spokesperson Abhishek Jha as its candidate here. Vinayak Gautam is contesting from Prashant Kishore’s party. Rakesh Roshan, who is close to Chirag, has entered the fray as an independent.
Roshan contested from Raghapur seat against Tejashwi Yadav in the 2020 elections. Roshan received 24,947 votes in this election. Roshan currently serves as the state vice-president of the Liberal People’s Party (R).
Tejashwi Yadav fielded Gopi Kishan from here along with Congress and MLAs. Final review of all candidates will take place on November 19th. Thereafter, the candidates will be officially announced.
Politics in 4 districts are decided by Tierhut
The election to the Tirhut Legislative Assembly directly affects the politics of four districts in Bihar. In fact, voters in Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Sitamarhi and Shivhar voted for this legislative council seat.
According to the local election commission, Muzaffarpur has a maximum of 70,000 voters. Since then, Sitamadhi has about 42,000 voters. The 36,000 voters in Vaishali and 6,000 voters in Shivhar decided the fate of the candidates in this election in Tirhut.
Why are you worried that the Chirag model will break the game?
In 2020, when the Legislative Council elections were held in Tirhut, JDU-backed Devesh Chandra Thakur entered the House with a margin of just 11,000 votes. Devesh Chandra Thakur is popular here but this time Abhishek Jha is in the fray instead of Thakur.
In 2020, Devesh Thakur contested from RJD. This time, Prashant Kishore’s party has also entered the fray. PK has fielded renowned radiologist Vinayak Gautam of Muzaffarpur as its candidate.
Amidst all this, Chirag’s candidacy will heighten tensions in the JDU. If any games are held in Tierhut before 2025, it won’t be a good sign for JDU.
JDU has been in a strong position in these parts of north Bihar. Currently, JDU has Lok Sabha MPs from Sitamarhi and Shivhar.
JDU gets hit by Chirag model
Nitish Kumar’s party suffered setbacks in the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections and the 2024 Rupaoli by-election due to the JDU Chirag model. In Rupaoli 2024, Chirag Party’s rebel Shankar Singh suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of JDU’s Kaladhar Mandal. JDU won this seat in 2020.
In the 2020 assembly elections, Chirag Paswan’s party severed ties with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and fielded candidates in 140 seats in Bihar. In the entire election, Chirag’s party won only one seat but spoiled the JDU contest on about 45 seats.
Thus, JDU became a third party in Bihar. In 2022, the Chirag model was first mentioned by the JDU and the party said that if the Chirag model was not made, the JDU would become the first party in Bihar.
