Arrah Lok Sabha constituency: When RK Singh arrested LK Advani and halted his Rath Yatra

Arrah Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 40 Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar. Raj Kumar Singh won the seat for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2014 election from Arrah. Singh defeated Rashtriya Janata Dal's Sribhagwan Singh Kushwaha by a margin of 1,35,870 votes. Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) candidate Raju Yadav stood at a distant third spot with 98805 seats. Earlier in 2009, the unreserved seat was won by JDU's Meena Singh.

Of the 40 seats in Bihar, 34 are unreserved seats and 6 are reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates. Arrah Lok Sabha constituency comprises of seven Vidhan Sabha segments namely - Sandesh, Barhara, Arrah, Agiaon, Tarari, Jagdishpur and Shahpur.

The current Member of Parliament from Arrah, Raj Kumar Singh has had a distinguished four-decade career as an IAS officer, before he became a full-time politician in 2013. He took over as Minister of State (IC) Power and New and Renewable Energy in the Narendra Modi government in 2017. He shot to limelight in 1990 when he arrested LK Advani in Samastipur in Bihar when the BJP veteran was on his Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya.

During his tenure as the union home secretary, Mumbai attack terrorist Ajmal Kasab and Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru were hanged. As a union home secretary, Singh also oversaw alleged saffron terror cases involving blasts in Malegaon and Samjhauta Express and had courted controversy by releasing names of some suspects. He is known for his contributions to schemes for modernisation of police and prison, and laying down a framework for disaster management.

The preparations are on in full swing for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The BJP, JDU are contesting the polls on 17 seats each while the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) is contesting on six seats. NDA will also nominate LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan to the Rajya Sabha.

On the other hand, the Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), the Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular (HAM-S) led by former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and the Vikasshil Insan Party (VIP) have joined hands for the "Mahagatbandhan" in Bihar.    

Bihar witnessed an overall turnout of 56.28 per cent in the 2014 polls of which 57.66 per cent were female voters and 55.08 per cent were male voters. In Arrah, 48.75  per cent voters exercised their franchise in the 2014 election of which 51.12 per cent were male voters while 45.83 per cent were female voters.