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In the Bihar Assembly elections, both the poorest and richest candidates from Ara (Bhojpur district) and Lauriya (West Champaran) seats come from Opposition mahagatbandhan (grand alliance) bloc to vie for a place in the 243-member Assembly. Both the constituencies will go to polls in separate phases on November 6 and 11. “It is not the money but the content which makes a poor man rich and discontent makes the rich man poor”, CPI-ML candidate from Ara, Qayamuddin Ansari, said campaigning with a handful of men carrying red flags and flags of alliance parties while moving in congested squalor lanes of Sheetal Tola under the Shivganj area of Ara town on a rainy morning on October 31. Folding his trousers, Mr. Ansari, 48, was no less in speed of his campaign walk even in the filthy lanes and bylanes where the rainwater had clogged knee-deep. Mr. Ansari was in a hurry to cover the whole area on the rainy day in the town. “The campaign plan was fixed earlier. Rain cannot deter my campaign trail. I have to campaign on foot only as I have no car or other vehicle to travel”, he said. When asked how much money he has in bank accounts, he quipped with a broad smile, “only 17.5 thousand rupees”. One of his supporters carrying a red flag on his shoulder added, “he is the poorest candidate not only in Bihar but of whole Hindustan (India)”. Mr. Ansari smiled again and moved on with fast pace. “A person is rich or poor by what he is, not by what he has”, Mr. Ansari said, next quoting Henry Ward Beecher who was an American clergyman and social reformer. You mean to say you may be poor financially but, a rich person? “Yes, with the kind of support from local people and my party men, I feel a rich person”, he said emphatically. “What if I do not have money in my pocket or the bank account? It hardly matters to me”. However, Subodh Kumar, 55, owner of an electronic shop near the congested Shivganj thoroughfare, said, “He is more popular among the lower strata of society, but the upper caste of the constituency is still enamoured with the BJP”. In the 2020 Assembly election, BJP candidate Amrendra Pratap Singh won the election, getting over 45% votes. Mr. Singh has been winning the Ara seat since 2005 but this time the party changed him, fielding Sanjay Singh Tiger. The Jan Suraaj Party has put up Vijay Gupta as its candidate, a famous doctor of the town. “Kya pade ho chakker mein, koi nahi hai takkar mein (for what you’re mulling over, no one is in contest)”, a sexagenarian Ram Pravesh Shah, who works in a garment shop in the area, said, while holding his tattered umbrella tightly to ward off the drizzle. Mr. Shah has been casting his vote to the CPI-ML for long. Mr. Ansari was party’s student wing leader in the 1990s and currently is State secretary of Insaf Manch, the platform to help persons falsely implicated, framed and incarcerated by the police and investigative agencies in terror cases. He has been contesting Assembly polls since 2015 since last two terms but failed to win once. In 2015 elections, Mr. Ansari had got only 3.23% of votes and was placed at third position. “This time, I am getting huge response from people who are in no confusion at all to vote”, claimed Mr. Ansari. Asked why would people vote for this time, Mr. Ansari, a postgraduate from local H.D. Jain College, was straightforward while folding his hands at every door during his campaign in the filthy by-lanes of Sheetal Tola, “because we need a society where even a poor man like me can enjoy his rights to feel proud of”. “I do not have land, vehicle, house or business. My wife works as an Anganwadi worker; our family survives on her small income only”, said Mr. Ansari who comes from the Extremely Backward Class (EBC) weavers’ community. According to his election affidavit, he has only ₹20,000 in cash and ₹13,000 deposited in bank account. He has jewellery worth ₹59,500. He has total assets of ₹2.32 lakh and seven cases are registered against him in different police stations but was convicted in none. Under the Opposition alliance, the CPI-ML is contesting in 20 seats and it has 12 sitting MLAs in the 243-member Assembly. On the other hand, the VIP candidate from Lauriya in West Champaran district, Ran Kaushal Pratap Singh alias Guddu Singh, a builder, is said to be the richest among all candidates of Bihar poll fray as he has declared his assets in affidavit worth of ₹373 crore. Mr. Singh has non-agricultural assets worth ₹352 crore, shares and securities worth ₹5.51 crore and agricultural land worth ₹2.58 crore. His wife too has assets worth ₹131 crore and investments worth ₹6.59 crore. The family owns seven luxury vehicles and jewellery worth around 3.4 kg of gold and Mr. Singh himself possesses 600 grams’ gold and diamond jewellery and they also own foreign-made firearms. Mr. Singh has also loans of around ₹14.46 crore in his name and ₹1.12 crore in his wife’s name. Mr. Singh is pitted against three-time sitting MLA in the seat, who is a Bhojpuri film singer Vinay Bihari, who had won last two Assembly elections in 2015 and 2020 on BJP ticket. In the 2010 poll he had won as an Independent candidate. Lauriya goes to polls in second phase on November 11 and the results will be out on November 14.
