Left makes a comeback in Bihar after 3 decades

Aksheev Thakur

New Delhi, June 4

After its successful run in the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) has won two parliamentary seats in the state after a gap of three decades. The last time a CPI (ML) MP was elected from Bihar was in 1989, when Rameshwar Prasad won from Arrah.

The party has won the Arrah and Karakat Lok Sabha seats.

The Karakat constituency came into existence in 2008 and since then only NDA candidates have won. Former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha, who contested from the Rashtriya Lok Morcha, lost from Karakat this time. He had won the seat in 2014. In 2019, Mahabali Kushwaha from JD(U) had emerged victorious. Raja Ram Singh Kushwaha of the CPI (ML) won the Lok Sabha seat from Karakat this time.

In Bihar, where voters are divided on caste lines, the CPI (ML) banked on its assessment that the Kushwaha vote bank in Karakat was drifting away from the NDA. Raja Ram Singh, who is himself a Kushwaha, had an edge due to better ground connection. The caste equation was further muddled for Upendra with the entry of Bhojpuri singer Pawan Singh into the fray.

Union Minister RK Singh, who contested from Arrah on the BJP symbol, lost the seat to Sudama Prasad of the CPI (ML). Singh had won from Arrah in the 2014 and 2019 LS polls. This is the only seat where the BJP and the Left were directly contesting.