Electing The Selected: Paharpur Residents Demand A Local Candidate

CHAMPARAN, India - Sept. 19, 2015 - PRLog -- Delimitation has always had an impact on elections,the Govindganj constituency is no exception to this rule. The Paharpur block has been added to Govindganj constituency in the current delimitation. Election fever has engulfed the area and everyone is bracing themselves for the upcoming legislative assembly elections. The people of Paharpur are demanding that since the area has remained unrepresented since independence the area should be represented this time around. Various nominees are trying to garner support but the only nominee who seems to have a support from every quarters is Mr. Anand Tiwari. Mr. Tiwari has been the village head of his area ever since he first contested the Panchayat election and most of the times he was chosen unopposed. His popularity among the masses is evident from the fact that the village heads of 25 out 34 panchayats have promised their unconditional support to his candidature. Though Mr. Tiwari is a staunch believer of the centrist ideology of congress. The panchayat heads are of the opinion that Mr. Tiwari shall win the election irrespective of the fact that which party he represents.

The area is a Brahmin dominated region and Mr. Tiwari being a Brahmin has the odds in his favour. It must be acknowledged that out of the 16 elections that the Govindganj constituency has undergone it has produced 13 Brahmin winners. In the last election Congress emerged as the third largest party despite very late announcement of the name of Candidate, also the candidate was not very popular and had lost similar election twice in the past. This time around the NDA has fielded Mr. Raju Tiwari of the LJP taking into consideration the Brahmin domination in the constituency. Mr. Tiwari has a considerable following in the area. The present MLA is from JDU, though she is hopeful of her re-election the stories doing the rounds suggest that she might not be allotted the ticket considering her poor track record and negative image.

The area is suffering from the impact of mismanagement and lack of attention of the current MLA. Road, Electricity, water (lack of hand pumps) and health are the major issues of the area. Due to the recurrent floods in the Gandak River the infrastructure of a large section of the area is pretty weak. The residents are of the opinion that their representatives have never delivered their promises.The total population of this constituency formed by the merger of Areraj, Paharpur and Sangrampur blocks is 4,20,057. Out of which 2,35,122 are voters. Total of 1,28,710 voters are male and 1,06,410 is the number of female voters.

The Village heads of Govindganj constituency had come up together for a meeting to decide on supporting a candidate through the election. Once the meeting of the village heads was over Ms.Shakila Begum, Mr. Vishwanath Singh, Mr. Kodo Shah, Ms. Rinki Shukla and Mr. Hari Paswan addressed the masses present and reiterated their unfettered support for Mr. Anand Tiwari..

Ms. Shukla while reiterating support for Mr. Anand Tiwari said, “All of us Village heads demand that Mr. Tiwari should be the candidate in the upcoming elections so that with our support his election to the legislative assembly is assured”.

Ms. Shakila Begum another Village Head reiterated her support saying, “Mr. Anand Tiwari being an educated, laborious andcommitted individual is the best suited candidate for our area”.

Similar sentiments echoed in the statement of other village heads.