Patna (Bihar) [India], October 31 (ANI): With Bihar assembly election due in just six days, the Phulwari constituency under the Patna district is set to witness a battle of familiar faces. With the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) Liberation looking to retain the seat they had won in 2020, the Janata Dal (United) has fielded a former minister who had represented the constituency in 2015 and 2010.

Constituency 188, Phulwari, is one of the 38 constituencies reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC) category. A muslim dominated area, the area has been traditionally a stronghold of the Janata Dal (United) with former minister Shyam Rajak retaining the seat for 10 years between 2010-2020.

While CPI(ML) is banking on sitting MLA Gopal Ravidas, JD(U) has brought back Shyam Rajak to wrest back control of the constituency and contest the elections in the first phase of the polls happening on November 6. Notably, Jan Suraaj Party offers a fresh face to the people in the constituency, with candidate Shashikant Prasad set to contest too.

Prasad himself has been a former Block Development Officer (BDO) in Patna, and a college professor.

Notably, Rajak has switched alliances multiple times over the decades, having a long political career and experience of working in the cabinets of both JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar and RJD's Lalu Prasad Yadav. Till 2020, he served as the cabinet minister of Industries in the Nitish Kumar cabinet. In the same year, he went to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) citing discontent from the JD(U). However, while in RJD he failed to secure a ticket and thus did not contest the election, breaking his streak from Phulwari.

Before 2005, Rajak was part of the RJD, however between 2005-2020, he had a decades long career of working with the JD(U).

In 2020, while JD(U) banked on Arun Manjhi to secure a win, the CPI (ML) candidate Gopal Ravidas won with a margin of 6.73% votes. Currently, Arun Manjhi is the JD(U) candidate from Masaurhi constituency.

In Phulwari, construction of roads is a major poll issue for the constituents, with people asking for better connectivity and better infrastructure in the region, paving the way for a possible anti-incumbency against the CPI(ML) MLA.

While there is a sizeable muslim population in the area, the community as a whole is not seen to have voted homogenously for a particular candidate. While RJD is looking to bank on the Muslim-Yadav alliance to garner suppor, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is also looking to get support from across the area through the Hindu, and Kurmi communities in the region.

While Rajak hails from the Dhobi community, Ravidas is from the Chamar community. While the JD(U) candidate offers experience for working as a minister in various cabinet, Ravidas is known to be from a humble background and a poor family. He is also the Bihar Secretary of the All India Agricultural and Rural Labourers Association (AIARLA) and a Central Committee member of CPI(ML), protesting against alleged extortion of microfinance agencies.

In the 2020 elections, the constituency had 57.38 voting percentage, with 1,96,471 votes cast from an electorate of over 3 lakh people. CPI (ML) MLA Gopal Ravidas received a total of 91,124 votes. He got a win margin of 6.73% votes, with the runner up, JD(U)'s Arun Manjhi receiving 77,267 votes.

The elections for first phase of Bihar assembly elections will happen on November 6, and second phase will commence on November 11, with counting set on November 14. (ANI)