Former Bihar chief minister and the president of Hindustan Awam Morcha (Secular) Jitan Ram Manjhi won from the Imamganj constituency by a margin of over 16,000 votes in the Bihar elections. He was seeking a re-election from the constituency.
A three-cornered fight took place in the reserved assembly segment with Manjhi contesting against former Speaker of Bihar assembly and RJD candidate Uday Narayan Choudhary.
Choudhary had won from the seat four times before losing to Manjhi in 2015, Hindustan Times pointed out.
The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) has fielded Shobha Sinha, the daughter-in-law of Ramswaroop Paswan who was a former MLA from Imamganj.
There are a total of 10 candidates in the fray on the seat which went to polls in the first phase on October 28.
Manjhi last month quit the RJD-led Grand Alliance after claiming that he was ignored by the rest of the gathbandhan and announced his plans to join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
On changing sides, he told The Times of India that he found there was “dictatorship” in the RJD. “CM Nitish Kumar, on the other hand, in a man who believes in doing work. He not only listens to the suggestions, but also ensures their implementation. There is no other leader in Bihar who works like Nitishji,” he told The Times of India in an interview.
Manjhi had quit the JD(U) in 2015 after being forced to step down as the chief minister to make way for Kumar. He later on formed the HAM and contested 21 seats during 2015 Bihar assembly polls as an NDA constituent.
With return of Kumar in the NDA fold in July 2017, he walked out of it to join hands with the opposition grouping.
Analysts have warned of anti-incumbency in the assembly segment.
“No doubt several development schemes were initiated here, but huge anti-incumbency is also working on the ground,”Gyanendra Yadav, a professor of Sociology at College of Commerce Patna told Hindustan Times.
(With PTI inputs)