Chhapra: The name Chhapra is somehow synonymous with Bihar. Ask any outsider to name a location in the state after Patna and Chhapra will be the most likely choice.
And now, the Chhapra Assembly constituency is witnessing an interesting battle between Bhojpuri super star Khesari Lal Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and newcomer Chhoti Kumari of the BJP.
The last figures available showed Yadav trailing by over 3,000 votes. If he loses, it will be a major upset as the RJD was banking on reclaiming the seat by fielding a popular figure like him.
The high-profile Chhapra Assembly seat was considered an RJD stronghold till the BJP won it in 2020. This time, the BJP pulled a trick by fielding Chhoti Kumari, a newcomer, against someone like Yadav. This was being seen as a Divid vs Goliath contest by many.
Chhoti Kumari is from the Vaishya community and has served as the district council president. Her husband, Dharmendra Sah, is the BJP's district general secretary.
Between 1965 and 2014, only Rajput or Yadav candidates had won from Chhapra. However, in the 2014 Assembly by-election, RJD's Randhir Kumar Singh won for the first time. Subsequently, a non-Yadav, non-Rajput candidate, Dr C N Gupta, won for the first time in the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections on a BJP ticket.
Yadav has been involved in frequent verbal altercations with BJP star campaigners and industry mates such as Pawan Singh and Ravi Kishan, ever since his candidature was announced.
He also courted controversy with his remarks about the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
"Will I become a teacher, professor, or officer after studying at the Ram Temple? No. The Ram Temple is a matter of faith; that's a different matter. But work must be done for education. The country runs on education," Yadav has said during his campaign.
Seers had reacted strongly to this and called Yadav mentally ill. They had said that if he is not able to respect the dignity of Lord Ram, then he should retire from politics. Another Bhojpuri star, Nirahua, had also targeted Yadav, accusing him of promoting appeasement politics.