Siwan’s Battle Of Castes: JD(U) Fields Vijay Lakshmi Kushwaha, Wife Of Former MLA Ramesh Kushwaha (image-X/VLakshmiKush)
Replacing sitting MP Kavita Singh, the Janata Dal (United) has fielded Vijay Lakshmi Kushwaha, wife of former MLA Ramesh Singh Kushwaha, from Siwan Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar.
Ramesh Kushwaha, a former member of CPI(ML)(L) and Rashtriya Lok Manch (RLM), had recently been re-inducted by the JD(U) with the promise of his wife being given a ticket from Siwan. By fielding Kushwaha, the party aims to maintain its OBC voter base.
Singh, a member of the Rajput community, had won the seat in the 2019 elections with 4.4 lakh seats. Dropping Singh has not gone well with the Rajput voters in the area.
Once a strong leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and a former MLA and MP, Mohammad Shahabuddin established his dominance in the parliamentary constituency of Siwan. Following his sentence to life imprisonment in the Siwan acid attacks, the Lok Sabha seat has undergone major changes.
Now the deceased Shahabuddin’s wife, Heena Sahab, who previously contested the last two elections from Siwan on the RJD ticket, However, this will be her first election as an independent candidate following the death of the don-turned-politician in May 2021 in Tihar jail.
Interestingly, the husbands of both the woman candidates have a connection dating back to 1997. Ramesh Kushwaha gained fame after filing an FIR against Shahabuddin following the murder of Chandrashekhar Prasad, a JNU student leader and activist, in 1997. However, Kushwaha didn’t appear in court to record his statement against the sitting MP after allegedly being pressurised by Shahabuddin. In 2000, Kushwaha was expelled from CPI(ML)(L) for anti-party activities.
Meanwhile, RJD candidate Choudhary, a Yadav, who enjoyed Shahabuddin’s patronage, is relying on party leader Tejashwi Yadav’s employment schemes. Heena’s candidature has, however, made both major parties nervous, as she does wield considerable influence in the region, especially, among Muslims (18.26 percent) and a section of the non-OBC Yadavs, Dalits, and even the upper castes.
On the other hand, Vijay Lakshmi is confident that the people will vote for the development and the welfare schemes PM Modi introduced for women, as well as the JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar’s work for the past 18 years.
The birthplace of India’s first president, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the Siwan Lok Sabha constituency comprises six Vidhan Sabhas such as Ziradei, Darauli (SC), Daraunda, Barharia, Raghunathpur, and Siwan. The constituency comprises about 2.5 lakh Yadav voters, 1.25 lakh Kushwahas, and around 2.5 lakh extremely backward classes (EBCs).
The constituency will go to the polls on May 25 in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
