In Purnea byelection,it is a fight between two victims

While Kirans husband was stabbed to death early this year by a teacher,Roopam Pathak,alleging sexual abuse,Amits father was killed in 1998 over political rivalry with Pappu Yadav,the former MP now in jail in connection with the Ajit Sarkar murder.

Kiran,a mother of two,has already started announcing how she is very much part of Purnea family and how injustice has been done to her. Although she does not refer to her husbands murder directly,she tries to strike an emotional chord with the people.

As for Amit,it will be a second shot at polls. He had returned from Australia to contest the 2010 Assembly elections,but came third. He has not gone back to Australia since then. I have not met my wife and two sons,Joshua 5 and Jaydin 2,for close to one year now. Purnea people can now see commitment in my eyes. While my wife has been earning to support my family,I am fighting my own battle to fulfil the unfinished task of my father,who fell prey to dirty politics, says Amit,29. An MBA,he had quit a lucrative job with an Australian company,he told his Aussie wife Blaga that he wont return till he won the election.

Amit,who speaks English with an anglicised accent,has learnt to speak the local dialect with as much aplomb. I am not too worried about the so-called sympathy factor in the BJP favour. While I have nothing personal against the late Rajkishore Keshri,his murder followed allegations of rape, he says. Purnea has seen real sympathy,it was witnessed after my fathers murder because of championing land reform cause.

On how he will bridge the gap of over 30,000 votes from the BJP the difference between votes of Amit and the BJPs Rajkishore Keshri,Amit says while the RJD-LJP is supporting his candidature,Congress candidate Ramcharitra Yadav,the runner-up last time,seems to have lost minorities support with his five consecutive losses. Purnea has over 30,000 votes of Muslims as against 55,000 of Vaishyas,15,000 of Brahmins and as much of Yadavs followed by 7,000-odd votes of Bengalis. The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes have over 15,000 votes.

However,BJP state general secretary and Purnea bypoll in-charge Mangal Pande claims there is no contest with the CPM or the Congress and even the RJP-LJP not being in the fray will not hurt the party as their candidate had got less than 2,000 votes in the last election.