Lok Sabha elections: Yadav stronghold in Madhepura will remain in focus

Located in the flood-prone Kosi river valley, Madhepura has been a ‘Yadav’ stronghold ever since Bindeshwari Prasad Mandal, the man who chaired the Second Backward Class Commission, better known as the Mandal Commission, won the seat in 1968 and reinstated it in 1977.

Madhepura has since sent leaders like former Union Minister Sharad Yadav, former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad and Pappu (Rajesh Ranjan) Yadav to the Lok Sabha.

In 2019, Dinesh Chandra Yadav of Janata Dal (United) comprehensively defeated aging leader Sharad Yadav of Rashtriya Janata Dal. The latter had parted ways with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and left the JD(U) as Kumar returned to the fold of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.

Sharad Yadav made peace with his former rival Lalu Prasad to contest from Madhepura. He won the seat four times, in 1991, 1996, 1999 and 2009), and lost from it in 1998, 2004, 2014 and 2019. In 1998 and 2004, Sharad Yadav lost to Lalu Prasad.

According to political party estimates, at least a third of the electorate in the constituency consists of Yadavs, adding grist to the local saying: “Rome Pope ka, Madhepura Gope ka (the Pope rules Rome, the Yadavs rule Madhepura).

For the 2024 battle, the RJD-led grand alliance has fielded Kumar Chandradeep Yadav, an English professor at a Patna university. He is the son of former Madhepura MP Ramendra Kumar Yadav, who won from the seat in 1989 on a Janata Dal ticket.

Of Madhepura’s six assembly segments, JD(U) legislators represent four, and RJD and BJP one each.

First print: May 4, 2024 | 12:34 pm IST