3-way contest among women in Parihar seat

Sitamarhi: In Sitamarhi district's Parihar constituency, situated near India-Nepal border, a three-way contest is unfolding as expelled RJD leader Ritu Jaiswal is running as an Independent against BJP's sitting MLA Gayatri Devi and RJD's Smita Gupta. The Parihar constituency was in news during the nomination phase as Jaiswal revolted against her party after she was denied a ticket for the constituency.In the 2020 election, Jaiswal was defeated by then sitting MLA Gayatri Devi of the BJP, albeit with a thin margin.This time again both face each other, even Jaiswal is in the fray as an Independent candidate after her rebellion with the RJD. A third cog in the wheel, of course, is the RJD candidate Smita Gupta, daughter-in-law of senior party functionary Ram Chandra Purvey.With three major nominees among a total of nine candidates being women, makes it an interesting fight at the Parihar assembly constituency. While BJP’s sitting MLA Gayatri Devi is eyeing a hat-trick, Jaiswal has has been following the model of Pappu Yadav, who won the Lok Sabha elections last year as an Independent, even after joining the Congress. She has given a call to make Parihar Purnia.Meanwhile, the fight is also on another front — Gayatri Devi is wife of Ram Naresh Yadav, who has also won this seat, Gupta is the daughter-in-law of senior RJD functionary Purvey.

As the RJD chose Gupta over Jaiswal, the latter revolted against the party, and subsequently was expelled for six years.Meanwhile, a few Muslim Kshatrapas are said to be with her, which has given a tough time to RJD nominee Gupta so far.Parwaha village native Safi Haider, however, said that Muslim voters must not be taken for granted in favour of alliance parties. Parsa villagers Mohd Ummid and Mohd Hasim Mian said that they have not decided whom to vote for.While former minister Purvey has been continuously garnering support for Gupta, the INDIA bloc’s CM face, RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, has addressed a few rallies for her.On the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election rally in Sitamarhi in support of eight NDA candidates, including Gayatri Devi, and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath’s campaign gave some respite to the BJP nominee.There area altogether 3.32 lakh electors in the constituency, including 1.57 lakh women and 24 third gender.