Sandeep Saurav’s number of votes is double that of JDU candidate and incumbent MP
Paliganj, Bihar:
Among the stars of CPI’s (ML) best show in Bihar’s elections in more than three decades is Sandeep Saurav, a 33-year-old who fought his very first election to the Paliganj Assembly near Patna – and won .
Mr Saurav’s number of votes in the election is double that of candidate Janata Dal United and incumbent MP.
It was a very good election for the left parties in Bihar. Of the 29 seats contested by the left-wing parties – CPI, CPM and CPI (ML) – under the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) led by Tejashwi Yadav, they won 16 seats – a success rate of 55%.
The IPC (ML) won 12 of the 19 seats contested, for a success rate of 63%. In contrast, the largest party in the Grand Alliance, Congress, won just 19 of the 70 seats it contested, for a success rate of 27 per envoy.
In the last Bihar Assembly election in 2015, the left’s combined tally was only three seats.
“I started with student politics and I am still a part of student politics. I think people understood my vision for education and politics, ”says Sandeep Saurav at his home in Maner Town near Patna, surrounded by a handful of supporters.
“We used to start at 6 am and have small meetings at the village level. There isn’t a single village in Paliganj that I haven’t touched. We created zones and held meetings with young people. The CPI (ML) had three seats last time. We didn’t have a seat too. But we have always had public support in Bihar, ”said the newly elected MP.
Manoj Manzil, of CPI (ML), the son of brickyard workers, is another star artist of the left parties. He is now a deputy for Agiaon in the Arrah district of Bihar after collecting 50,000 more votes than his closest rival JD (U).
In the 2015 Assembly election in the village of Baali Pakar in Paliganj, which has a large population of the extremely backward Mushahar caste, the votes were almost evenly split between the BJP and Rashtriya Janata Dal candidates ( RJD) at headquarters, and the BJP deputy was elected to power. then.
But this year, of the 1,420 votes cast there, 866 were for the CPI (ML) candidate, 297 for the JD (U) while a party candidate Lok Janshakti obtained some 200 votes.
“We weren’t happy with Nitish ji. All we got was 400-500 rupees in our bank accounts. Nothing else. So we gave our vote to a new person and now we hope he will do what he promised. I hope he helps us with the job, “says Munia Devi, a housewife, when asked why she voted for the left.
Mukul Kumar, a 21-year-old first voter who sued BTech in the Punjab before the lockdown, has a more comprehensive explanation. “Jai Vardhan Yadav (outgoing MP) was with the RJD. He is now with the JDU. For five years I never saw his face. He never came in five years. This new MP, he won Tuesday and came to meet on Wednesday. He also spoke in the Jobs Campaign. (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi and Yogi (Adityanath) also came here. They continued to talk about China and the Ram temple. ” , said Mr. Kumar.
