GUWAHATI: What makes Bihar’s regional party like JD(U) contest in assembly elections in the faraway northeast and win seats too?
The northeastern states have been seeing hordes of regional parties from the Hindi belt taking part in the assembly elections, which included JD(S), LJP, RJD, SP and Samata Party. But none have reaped as much as JD(U) has.
After several successful and not quite successful attempts in three northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur since 2003, the party has fielded its biggest contingent — a total of 35 candidates — for the Manipur assembly election scheduled to be held in two phases on February 27 and March 3.
JD(U) national general secretary in charge of the northeast, Afaque Ahmed Khan, said its Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar‘s clean image has been attracting both the masses and the intelligentsia in the region.
“The masses as well as the intelligentsia in the northeast are observing a clean image of our leader Nitish Kumar and his good governance in Bihar. It is due to the image of the party, particularly the clean image of Nitish Kumar, that people are attracted to the JD(U),” Khan explained.
JD (U) made its debut in the Manipur election in 2000 with 18 candidates and won one seat. In the election two years later, the party fielded seven candidates but failed to win any seat. It drew a blank in 2007, 2012 and did a contest in 2017.
JD(U)’s biggest haul has been in Arunachal Pradesh where it had won seven seats in 2019 after contesting in 15 seats. But, within a few months, six of its MLAs switched over to ruling BJP in the state.
In neighboring Nagaland, JD(U)’s first election was in 2003 and the party won three seats from among 13 it contested. With none in 2008, the party won one seat each in 2013 and 2018 in the state.
The party this time has been able to draw even defectors from BJP, its big brother in the NDA, and Congress to its fold in Manipur and with all these candidates, the Bihar-centric party has emerged as a major player.
“This time, we are mentally prepared to contest and our unit has been working hard. People coming from other parties is an advantage for us,” Khan added.
The party has also fielded some of the big names of the state, including former chief secretary Oinam Nabakishore Singh and former DGP Lallian Mang Khaute. Also among its candidates is supercop Thounoujam Brinda, the former assistant superintendent of police who returned the Chief Minister’s Police Medal for Gallantry in 2018 following the acquittal of seven people, including a top BJP leader, arrested in a drugs haul case by a special court.
The northeastern states have been seeing hordes of regional parties from the Hindi belt taking part in the assembly elections, which included JD(S), LJP, RJD, SP and Samata Party. But none have reaped as much as JD(U) has.
After several successful and not quite successful attempts in three northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur since 2003, the party has fielded its biggest contingent — a total of 35 candidates — for the Manipur assembly election scheduled to be held in two phases on February 27 and March 3.
JD(U) national general secretary in charge of the northeast, Afaque Ahmed Khan, said its Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar‘s clean image has been attracting both the masses and the intelligentsia in the region.
“The masses as well as the intelligentsia in the northeast are observing a clean image of our leader Nitish Kumar and his good governance in Bihar. It is due to the image of the party, particularly the clean image of Nitish Kumar, that people are attracted to the JD(U),” Khan explained.
JD (U) made its debut in the Manipur election in 2000 with 18 candidates and won one seat. In the election two years later, the party fielded seven candidates but failed to win any seat. It drew a blank in 2007, 2012 and did a contest in 2017.
JD(U)’s biggest haul has been in Arunachal Pradesh where it had won seven seats in 2019 after contesting in 15 seats. But, within a few months, six of its MLAs switched over to ruling BJP in the state.
In neighboring Nagaland, JD(U)’s first election was in 2003 and the party won three seats from among 13 it contested. With none in 2008, the party won one seat each in 2013 and 2018 in the state.
The party this time has been able to draw even defectors from BJP, its big brother in the NDA, and Congress to its fold in Manipur and with all these candidates, the Bihar-centric party has emerged as a major player.
“This time, we are mentally prepared to contest and our unit has been working hard. People coming from other parties is an advantage for us,” Khan added.
The party has also fielded some of the big names of the state, including former chief secretary Oinam Nabakishore Singh and former DGP Lallian Mang Khaute. Also among its candidates is supercop Thounoujam Brinda, the former assistant superintendent of police who returned the Chief Minister’s Police Medal for Gallantry in 2018 following the acquittal of seven people, including a top BJP leader, arrested in a drugs haul case by a special court.
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