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Razor's edges: Keen contest in Bihar seats

A tough contest is on the cards in at least seven Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar which returned candidates with razor-thin margins in the 1996 general election.

The fiercest contest is expected at Bikramganj where the then Janata Dal nominee, Kanti Singh, had defeated Samata Party candidate Vashist Narain Singh by a narrow margin of 2,432 votes. Kanti Singh polled 276,508 votes while Vashist Singh gave her a scare with 274,085 votes.

Kanti Singh, who got a ministerial berth in the United Front government, later joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal led by Laloo Prasad Yadav when the latter parted ways with the Janata Dal. This time too she will face Vashist Singh, but as an RJD candidate.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Soren supremo Shibu Soren also won the last election from the Dumka (reserved) constituency by a narrow margin of only 5,478 votes. Soren polled 165,411 votes while his BJP rival Babu Lal Maranadi got 159,933.

Both the candidates will cross swords again as they renew their battle for this seat.

An independent candidate Vijay Singh Soy gave BJP candidate Chitrasen Sinku a run for his money in the Singhbhum (reserved) seat, falling short only by 11,947 votes. Soy polled 84,537 votes while Simku got 96,484 votes. Both are again in the fray, but Soy is a Congress candidate this time.

Samata Party leader in the state assembly, Shakuni Chowdhury, was defeated in the last election from Khagaria by Anil Kumar Yadav of the Janata Dal by 12,377 votes. Chowdhury is once again pitted against Yadav who is now an RJD candidate.

Janata Dal candidate Sridhari Yadav defeated Digvijay Singh of the Samata Party by 14,742 votes in a multicornered contest in Banka. Yadav polled 276,241 votes while Singh got 261,499 votes.

This time Singh, the Samata Party national spokesman, is locked in a direct battle with Yadav.

In the 1996 election, the BJP's Rita Verma won the Dhanbad seat by a margin of 22,196 votes defeating Samresh Singh (JD). She polled 269,942 votes while Singh got 247,196. Verma is again in the fray while Singh's nomination papers were rejected after the JMM-S denied him a nomination at the last minute.

Former Bihar chief minister Satyendra Narain Sinha (Congress) was defeated by a JD candidate, Virendra Kumar Singh, by a margin of 23,032 votes in Aurangabad. Sinha got 162,729 votes and Singh polled 185,761 votes. Singh is in the fray once more to retain his seat.

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