Three from Manjhi familyin race for Imamganj seat

Patna: The Election Commission’s announcement of assembly byelection dates has triggered a peculiar scramble within Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s family to secure a ticket for the Imamganj assembly seat in Gaya district. While the bypoll will be held in four seats in Bihar, Imamganj has attracted attention due to this unusual situation.
This election became necessary after Manjhi, who represented Imamganj in the state assembly, was elected to the Lok Sabha from Gaya.Currently, he is the only Lok Sabha member from his party and serves as the Union minister for micro, small and medium enterprises in the Narendra Modi govt.
Sources said at least three family members are vying for the seat, referring to it as the “family seat”. These contenders include his younger son Praveen Manjhi, son-in-law Devendra Manjhi and daughter-in-law Deepa Santosh Manjhi. All three have been politically active in their areas and have previously run for election.
Deepa, married to Santosh Kumar Suman, a minister in the Nitish Kumar govt, has strong claims to the seat, having served as a district council member (Gaya) and actively engaged in politics through social media. Meanwhile, Devendra contested the last assembly elections from the Makhdumpur seat in Jehanabad district but lost to an RJD candidate. Praveen has also participated in local civil body elections.
“Everyone wants to contest elections, but who will be the candidate is the issue to be decided by the party’s parliamentary board,” HAM(S) spokesperson Nandlal Manjhi told TOI on Thursday, adding that many within the party are eager to join the electoral race. “There are many able candidates in the party, but we will decide after analysing the ‘pahalwan’ (candidate) to be fielded by the opposition. Pahalwan ko dekhkar hi ham apna pahalwan tay karenge,” he said.
Imamganj is one of four seats where bypolls are scheduled for November 13. The other three seats are Tarari, Ramgarh and Belaganj. Among these, three are held by the Grand Alliance, while one is under NDA control.