Though in the past election the Left was technically the partner of the grand alliance, RJD had virtually kept the Left out of the Mahagathbandhan, and instead had propped up Congress at the cost of the losing some seats, which otherwise the grand alliance could have won. Unfortunately, this time too, the CPI(ML) has not been allotted the seats where it has a strong base. Only a fortnight back, the CPI(ML) state secretary Kunal had regretted that by keeping the Left parties out of the Mahagathbandhan, the polarisation of votes against the BJP has weakened.

This time CPI(ML) has been given Nalanda, Ara and Karakat seats. CPI has been allotted Begusarai while the CPI(M) has been assigned Khagaria. CPI(ML)’s Sudama Singh is pitted against BJP’s union minister and upper caste Rajput face RK Singh, a former IAS officer. From his younger days, Sudama is known for his militant posture and had been part of peasant struggle of the district. He is a party MLA from Tarari Assembly seat in Bhojpur district.

In the 2019 elections, BJP’s RK Singh had won the seat by defeating CPI(ML)’s RajuYadav by a margin of 1.40 lakh votes. Yadav had got more that 4.20 lakh votes. The CPI(ML) has fielded former party MLA Raja Ram Singh from Karakat parliamentary constituency. He is opposing former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha, who is the head of Rashtriya Lok Morcha, an ally of the NDA. From Nalanda, CPI(ML) has nominated first time MLA Sandeep Saurav. Incidentally, it is home district of chief minister Nitish Kumar, the Kurmi overlord.

Ara and Nalanda are politically volatile seats. Ara will not merely witness an electoral battle; instead, it is going to be a class war. The upper caste Rajputs would prefer to go to any extent to ensure the defeat of Naxalite Sudama. The belt has witnessed a number of bloody struggle between the Naxalite cadres and Rajputs supported by the Brahmins and Bhumihars of the state. In the last election, the Rajputs across the state had rallied behind RK Singh to protect the interest of the Rajput supremacy and fiefdom.

In Nalanda, the odds are many against the CPI(ML)’s Sandeep Saurav. The belt has witnessed protracted battle between Dalits and Kori-Kurmi combine since late sixties. The famous Belchi village which Indira Gandhi had visited in the late seventies, where gruesome massacre of Dalits had taken place in late seventies, is in this constituency. The area has a good CPI(ML) ground work, but it would have to face the aggressive middle caste peasantry.

The CPI has fielded former party MLA Awadhesh Rai from Begusarai. He is contesting against BJP candidate and Union Minister Giriraj Singh. In 2019, CPI had fielded Kanhaiya Kumar, former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president, who is now a prominent Congress face. This time Lalu Yadav has supported Rai. But in 2019, RJD had fielded its own candidate. . In that election, Hindus had rallied behind Giriraj ensuring his victory. The CPI(M) has fielded Sanjay Kumar from Khagaria parliamentary constituency, this time. He is expected to present a stiff fight.

Though the Left parties are confident of winning two/ three seats the ground level situation isn’t at all favourable. In 1999, the Left’s Subodh Ray had won from Bhagalpur. After that, no Left representative has reached Lok Sabha, contesting unsuccessfully in the 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019 polls. However, the Left leaders are hopeful of breaking the jinx this time. They are nevertheless confident that if the seats were shared in a rational manner, the result might be different from what’s generally expected.

CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said: "We are sure that Left parties will win some seats this time. The situation prevailing at the ground level has undergone massive change. The people are angry and frustrated with Narendra Modi rule. We have been trying to actively intervene in the electoral battle and ensure the defeat of the BJP.”

In 2019, CPI (ML) had contested from Ara, Siwan, Karakat, Jehanabad and Patliputra. Raju Yadav had contested from Ara, Amarnath Yadav from Siwan, Ramdhar Singh from Jehanabad, Raja Ram Singh from Karakat and Rameshwar Prasad from Patliputra. Raju Yadav and Amarnath Yadav had secured third positions. RajuYadav had secured 4,19195 votes, around 39.6 per cent out of 10,80,684 votes polled. Raja Ram Singh from Karakat had got 24,932 around 2.9 per cent out of 8,68,79 and Amarnath Yadav from Siwan had got 74644 around 7.7 per cent of 9,84,810.

CPI(ML) already has Amarjeet Kushwaha as its member of Bihar legislative assembly Ziradei constituency of Siwan. He was the national president of the Revolutionary Youth Association in India. The CPI(ML) leaders strongly hold that the party must have won Siwan seat. But sad enough Lalu Yadav preferred to nominate his daughter from here. Satyadeo Ram is also the sitting MLA from Darauli in Siwan.

Growth of CPI(ML) in Siwan has been quite similar to the party's development in Bhojpur and other adjoining districts like Patna, Jahanabad, Arwal. The revolt of the most oppressed sections of the rural poor against the feudal gentry has been the basis on which the CPIML has grown in Bihar through sustained struggles. In Siwan, the party grew in the late 1980s and early 1990s, through open mass struggles. Darauli block in Siwan was the epicentre of the Party in the late 1980s and 1990s. Under the leadership of the CPIML, the landless poor and marginal peasants, belonging mostly to Dalit and backward castes, took on the well entrenched feudal power of the region, belonging mostly to the dominant Rajput caste. Bishwaniya Darbar of Darauli was a key citadel of this feudal power led by landlord Mrityunjay Singh and leaders like Prabhunath Singh. Shambhu Singh of Kishunpali, Govind Singh of Gauri, Vinod Dubey of Beltanri were close to him.

In the 1990 elections to Bihar Assembly, when Shahabuddin secured his first electoral victory as an independent MLA from Zeeradei segment, Amaranth Yadav also emerged as a powerful popular candidate of the Indian People's Front, the CPIML-led mass political platform. Peasant leader Rameshwar Prasad from Arrah was the first MP of the ML movement. (IPA Service)