Bochahan by-election: Polling underway in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district amid tight security; 13 candidates in fray

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Patna: Polling began at 7 am on Tuesday for the by-election to the Bochahan assembly seat in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district amid tight security, officials said. A total of 2.90 lakh voters will decide the fates of 13 candidates, three of them women, in the by-election, they said.

Altogether 1.53 lakh men, 1.47 lakh women and four voters of the third gender will exercise their franchise at 350 polling centres, which are being manned by 1,500 security personnel, they said.

By-poll to the seat was necessitated by the death of MLA Musafir Paswan, who had won on the ticket of Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) of Bollywood set designer-turned-politician Mukesh Sahani.

Sahani, who initially wanted to field the deceased MLA's son Amar, recently lost his ministerial berth, and subsequently the trust of his prospective candidate. Amar jumped ship and is now in the fray as the candidate of the RJD, which his father had defeated to win the seat.

Sahani has now fielded Gita Devi, whose father Ramai Ram was the RJD candidate in the 2020 assembly polls.

The BJP, the former benefactor of Sahani which now seeks to prove a point after having got his scalp, has fielded Baby Kumari who enjoys the image of a “giant killer” in the constituency.

She had won the seat in 2015, contesting as an Independent, defeating Ramai Ram who had represented Bochahan multiple times and on tickets of various parties. 
Also in the fray are the Congress, which appears to have been dumped by the RJD for good, four Independents and candidates of lesser parties, including AIMIM of Asaduddin Owaisi.

For Sahani, who risks losing his legislative council seat in a few months, the hustings are an occasion to prove his own political mettle, away from the protective shadow of a bigger player.

For the BJP, a win will bring the assurance that the unceremonious expulsion of Sahani, its former protégé who uses the nickname "son of Mallah", has not resulted in a backlash from the OBCs.

The RJD, which showed unmistakable signs of resurgence but fell short of the finishing line in the assembly elections, will be banking on its own formidable support base.

Arguably the state's principal pro-OBC party, it also hopes to cash in on the "humiliation" of Sahani as well as Chirag Paswan who was recently ousted from the house occupied by his late father Ram Vilas Paswan.

During his intensive campaign, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav repeatedly attacked the NDA over the expulsion of Sahani from the state cabinet and the political isolation, exemplified by physical eviction from the Delhi bungalow, of Chirag.

Chirag, who now heads Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), a splinter group of his father's party, has fielded no candidate though the reserved assembly segment has sizeable Dalit votes.

This has given rise to speculations of some backdoor political understanding which might come to the fore after the results are out. The counting of votes will take place on Saturday, April 16.