Bihar election results: 11 of 15 strongmen take early leads, ECI data shows
Bahubalis also win, as people vote for them due to their local Robinhood image: Social analyst and advocate Amarendra Kumar
Patna: Of the 15 strongmen vying for a seat in the Bihar assembly, 11 emerged with leads after the initial rounds of counting, showed data from the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Two of the 15 were contesting from prison.
Anant Singh of the Janata Dal (United) arrested in November after the murder of a Jan Suraaj Party worker during the campaign was ahead of the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Veena Devi as of 12.30pm.
Jailed RJD leader Rit Lal was trailing from Danapur constituency by almost 4542 votes, as of data available at 12.30pm, against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Ram Kripal Yadav.
Local strongman Karnveer Singh Yadav, fighting on an RJD ticket, was trailing from Siyaram, against the BJP’s Siyaram Singh by nearly 8,000 votes.
Similarly, the RJD’s candidate from Matihani Narendra Singh led by over 16,000 votes.
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The JD(U) candidate from Kuchaikote Amrendra Kumar Pandey led by upwards of 10,000 votes and its Ekma hopeful Manoranjan Singh was ahead by a similar margin.
Gangster Narendra Kumar alias Sunil Pandey’s son Vishal Prashant, the BJP candidate from Tarari constituency, was leading by 1,590 votes. Sunil Pandey’s brother Hulas Pande, the LJP candidate from Brahampur, was ahead by 800-odd votes.
The LJP’s Raju Tiwari, brother of gangster Rajan Tiwary, was ahead in the Govindganj seat by 12,600 votes. However, the party’s candidate Rupa Kumari, wife of criminal Tun Tun Yadav, was behind by over 2,500 votes in the Fatuha constituency.
Osama Shahab, gangster Mohammad Shahabuddin’s son and the RJD’s candidate from Raghunathpur constituency, was ahead of his JD(U) opponent Vikash Kumar Singh.
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RJD leader and Belaganj candidate Vishvanath Kumar Singh, the son of gangster Surendra Yadav was ahead in his seat by nearly 5,000 votes.
The party’s Bima Bharti, wife of criminal Awadhesh Mandal, trailed in Rupauli segment by almost 15,000 votes.
The BJP’s candidate Kedar Nath Singh, brother of jailed gangster Prabhunath Singh, fielded from Baniapur seat, led by nearly 9,000 votes.
“Going by the past trend, it is no surprise, as all the parties field bahubalis. They also win, as people vote for them due to their local Robinhood image. More than people, it is the responsibility of the parties to reverse the trend,” said social analyst and advocate Amarendra Kumar.
