44 vote in Purnea

The Purnea bypoll is touted as a battle between BJP candidate Kiran Keshri and CPM nominee Amit Sarkar,political heirs of two victims of circumstances. While BJP legislator Rajkishore Keshri was killed early this year by a school teacher charging him with sexual abuse,the then CPM MLA Ajit Sarkar was killed in 1998 as a result of a political rivalry with Pappu Yadav,former Madhepura MP now in jail.

Purnea District Magistrate N Shravan Kumar admitted lack of enthusiasm on part of voters because of election fatigue over the past six months.

Purnea has seen municipal corporation and panchayat elections since the Assembly polls in October 2010 which BJPs Rajkishore Keshri had won by over 15,000 votes against Congress candidate Ramcharitra Yadav,who is also in the fray in the bypoll. CPMs Amit Sarkar had finished third.

Low vote percentage might well have caused some concern in the BJP camp,which was otherwise confident of victory because of sizeable Vaishya votes. All top BJP leaders from Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi,national general secretary Ravishankar Prasad,Bhagalpur MP Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and state BJP president Dr C P Thakur had thrown their weight behind the slain legislators wife,Kiran Keshri,to save the seat the party won three times on the trot.

The Chief Minister,still facing tough questions post Forbesganj police firing 90 km from Purnea in which four Muslims were killed,also campaigned for a day to boost NDA candidates chances.

For Amit Sarkar,an MBA who left a lucrative job in Australia,this is a battle for political survival.