Darbhanga Rural seat awaits free-for-all

DARBHANGA (Rural): After a gap of 25 years, the Darbhanga rural assembly constituency became a free-for-all as it was earlier a reserved segment. In the last assembly polls, Pitamber Paswan of the RJD had trounced his rival candidate by a margin of over 10,000 votes here.
On the last day of electioneering on Friday, a procession of bikers wielding flags of the Congress party headed amidst sloganeering towards Raghopur village in Manigachchi block as Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and others were slated to address an election meeting in support of Congress candidate Abdul Hadi Siddiqui.
A batch of party workers, meanwhile, alighted from the campaign jeep for a brief stopover at Muria Chowk en route to Raghopur from Darbhanga.
One of the party activists said, "We have thrown our entire weight behind the party nominee irrespective of the poll outcome." He admitted that RJD nominee and sitting Manigachchi MLA Lalit Kumar Yadav and Ashraf Hussain of the JD(U) are strong contenders.
Interestingly, in the entire course of journey between Nehra village and Jibachch Ghat, the campaign vehicles of the Congress party traversed the route. Arun Ladia, a businessman having his outlet near the Sakri junction, anticipated division of votes on caste lines despite the much-hyped development plank of the NDA government.
Many believe that Lalit Yadav was facing problems as one of his castemen is also in the fray as an Independent.
Muslim votes may turn out to be a decisive factor for the JD(U) nominee, Ashraf Hussain, also a former district board president, who deserted the RJD only a couple of months ago.
The landscape of the constituency changed to a different makeover as 15 panchayats of Bahadurpur block were completely removed whereas all the panchayats of Manigachchi block were included into its fold. Now this assembly segment comprises 22 panchayats of Manigachchi block and 15 panchayats of Sadar block. Altogether, 15 candidates are in the fray.