Bihar Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Phase 7: Key battlegrounds and candidates for June 1 polls

Bihar Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Phase 7: As the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 approach their final phase, Bihar is gearing up for the seventh and concluding round of voting on June 1, Saturday. This phase will witness electoral contests across eight significant Lok Sabha seats: Nalanda, Patna Sahib, Pataliputra, Arrah, Buxar, Sasaram, Karakat, and Jahanabad.

The polling process in Bihar has been spread across all seven phases of the general election, beginning on April 19 and culminating on June 1. The results are slated for declaration on June 4.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Janata Dal (United) [JD(U)], and the undivided Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) dominated the state, securing 39 out of 40 parliamentary seats. The BJP won 17 seats, JD(U) 16, and LJP 6.


Key Constituencies and Candidates to Watch:

Patna Sahib
Patna Sahib has been a stronghold for the BJP since its creation following the 2008 delimitation. In this election, the BJP has again fielded former Union Minister and sitting MP Ravi Shankar Prasad. He had previously defeated actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha in the last general election. On the other hand, the Congress has nominated Anshul Avijit, son of former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, as their candidate. Avijit, making his electoral debut, has been a national spokesperson for the Congress for several years.

Pataliputra
In Pataliputra, the battle is set between RJD president Lalu Prasad's eldest daughter Misa Bharti and BJP's Ram Kripal Yadav. Yadav is aiming for a third consecutive win in the 2024 general election. He joined the BJP before the 2014 polls and defeated Bharti, who was making her political debut at the time. The RJD is determined to secure a victory for Bharti, who has lost the past two elections by narrow margins.

Arrah
BJP's RK Singh is seeking re-election from the Arrah constituency. In the previous election, Singh secured 566,480 votes. The CPI-ML (Liberation) has named Sudama Prasad as the 'Mahagathbandhan' candidate for this seat. In 2019, CPI-ML candidate Raju Yadav garnered 419,195 votes.

Sasaram
In Sasaram, the BJP has fielded former MLA Shivesh Ram to contest against Congress' Chhedi Paswan. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Paswan of the BJP won the seat with 494,800 votes, while Congress' Meira Kumar received 329,055 votes.