Bihar polls: Narkatiaganj gears up for phase 2 as BJP’s Sanjay Pandey faces Congress’s Shashwat Kedar

New Delhi [India], November 4 (ANI): Narkatiaganj Assembly constituency in Bihar’s Paschim (West) Champaran district is gearing up for phase 2 of the Bihar Assembly elections, scheduled to be held on November 11.

For the upcoming election, the BJP has fielded Sanjay Kumar Pandey, while the Congress has nominated Shashwat Kedar. Md Motiur Rahman will contest from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and Md. Wasiullah will represent the Jan Suraaj Party. 

Currently, Rashmi Varma from the BJP is the sitting MLA for Narkatiaganj. In the 2020 Assembly election, she won the seat with a margin of 21,134 votes over Congress’s Vinay Varma. The voter turnout stood at 61.99 per cent, with 1,64,615 voters casting their votes.

Narkatiaganj Assembly constituency was formed in 2008 after the delimitation process. Since then, elections have been held four times: in 2010, 2014 (by-election), 2015, and 2020.

In the 2010 Assembly election, BJP’s Satish Chandra Dubey defeated Congress candidate Alok Prasad Verma by 20,228 votes. A by-election was held in 2014 after Dubey was elected to the Lok Sabha, in which BJP’s Rashmi Varma retained the seat by defeating Congress’s Fakhruddin Khan with a margin of 15,742 votes.  

In 2015, Congress’s Vinay Varma won the seat by defeating the BJP’s Renu Devi by 16,061 votes. However, the BJP regained the constituency in the 2020 Assembly elections, where Rashmi Varma defeated Vinay Varma by 21,134 votes.  

In the 2020 polls, Rashmi Varma (BJP) received 75,484 votes (45.85 per cent), while Vinay Varma (INC) polled 54,350 votes (33.02 per cent). Independent candidate Renu Devi, a former BJP leader, secured 7,674 votes (4.66 per cent). Other parties, including the LJP and RLSP, got the remaining votes. The voter turnout was 62.02 per cent, showing consistent participation above 60 per cent in recent years.  

In 2020, Narkatiaganj had 265,561 registered voters, including about 40,232 Scheduled Caste voters (15.15 per cent), 4,037 Scheduled Tribe voters (1.52 per cent), and nearly 80,000 to 85,000 Muslim voters, making up more than 30 per cent of the electorate. By the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the number of registered voters increased to 279,043.  

The Narkatiaganj constituency has seen an alternating trend between the BJP and Congress since 2010, often reflecting the larger political mood of the state.  

The 2025 Bihar Elections will see a contest between the National Democratic Alliance and the Mahagathbandhan.

The NDA comprises the Bharatiya Janata Party, Janata Dal (United), Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), and Rashtriya Lok Morcha.

The Mahagathbandhan, led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal, includes the Congress party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML), led by Deepankar Bhattacharya, the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), and Mukesh Sahani's Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP).

Additionally, Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj has staked claims to all 243 seats in the state.

The assembly elections in Bihar are scheduled to be held on November 6 and 11, respectively, while the results will be declared on November 14. (ANI)