Seat watch Munger, Bihar: Litmus test for popularity of Grand Alliance

Devi will face off against Bihar’s Water Resources Minister and JD(U) legislator Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh. Both candidates are upper caste Bhumihars, and there is an obvious chance that the community’s votes will be split between the two. However, the key question is whether the Yadavs, who had always resisted Anant Singh’s dominance in the taal – a vast low lying area between Mokama and Barhaiya – will vote for Devi.

Yadavs and Bhumihars are generally seen as hostile to each other.

In Munger, there are approximately 2.5 lakh Bhumihar voters, 3 lakh voters from the OBC Kurmi community and the EBC Dhanuk community, about 80,000 voters from the OBC Kushwaha community, 2.25 lakh Yadav voters, 1.25 lakh Muslim voters, 1.5 lakh voters from the EBC Nishad or Sahni community, and around 2.5 lakh scheduled caste voters, which includes around 75,000 Manjhis.

The Congress hopes to get votes from the Muslim, Yadav, Kushwaha, Manjhi and and the Dhanuk communities, along with Bhumihars votes. The JD (U), on the other hand, is looking for the maximum number of non-Yadav and non-Muslim votes.

Munger has six Assembly segments – Jamalpur, Lakhisarai, Suryagarha, Barh, Mokama, and Munger. The JD (U) is confident of winning the Lok Sabha seat as Lalan Singh had won from here with a margin of over 1.75 lakh in 2009, though they lost the seat in 2014, with LJP’s Veena Devi riding the Narendra Modi wave.

An RLSP leader said the JD (U) may hold an advantage in Jamalpur, Munger and Barh, but the Congress can lead in Mokama, Suryagarha and Lakhisarai. “With Tejashwi campaigning in favour of Nilam Devi, she can now get good support of Yadavs as well.” JD (U) MLC Neeraj Kumar, however, said: “Let Congress be in a fool’s paradise. This battle is just about margin of victory for us.”