Purnia Lok Sabha Seat: Pappu Yadav's Independent Bid Sets Tone For Triangular Contest With RJD's Bima Bharti And JDU's Santosh Kumar

New Dekhi: Purnia has emerged as one of the most prominent constituencies among the 40 Lok Sabha seats of Bihar. The northern state of Bihar is going to polls in all 7 phases and the results will be counted on June 4. Purnia district has one of the highest Muslim populations with approximately 6.5 lakh voters. The seat has around 1.5 lakh Yadav, 3.5 lakh Kushwaha and around 1.5 lakh upper caste voters. Purnia parliamentary constituency is going to take place in the second phase on April 26 as the Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced. 

In the ongoing Lok Sabha Election, Purnia has become a hot seat after the INDIA alliance in Bihar fielded RJD candidate Beema Bharti ignoring Pappu Yadav, who later filed his nominations as an independent candidate. On the other hand, NDA has re-nominated JD(U) sitting MP Santosh Kumar from the seat.

Tejashwi's INDIA vs NDA Pitch

During the Purnia rally, RJD leader Tejashvi Yadav urged the crowd to support his party candidate Beema Bharati and said there is a direct fight between the INDIA alliance and NDA. "Choose INDIA bloc, and if you do not choose INDIA's Bima Bharti, then choose the NDA. Saaf Baat! Saaf Baat!" he said.

Pappu Yadav's independent bid is set to cut into the RJD votes especially Yadav's and Muslims. If this happens, then it might create trouble for the INDIA bloc.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha Election, JD(U) candidate Santosh Kumar secured a victory against Congress candidate Uday Singh Alias Pappu Singh. Kumar had bagged 6,32,924 votes while Singh had polled 3,69,463 votes. In 2014, the contest was between the same candidates with Kumar emerging as the winner. That time, the JDU had got 4,18,826 votes while Pappu Singh had received 3,02,157 votes. In 2019, Kumar increased his vote share by around 13 per cent.