Mehfooz Alam/Patna 

Among the 40 Lok Sabha constituencies of Bihar, Kishanganj is the only Muslim-majority segment with a 70 percent Muslim population. For this reason, every political party fields only Muslim candidates. Mujahid Alam is the NDA candidate from here for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. 

Mujahid Alam is contesting as a JDU candidate against the Congress party's sitting MP Dr Muhammad Jawed and AIMIM's nominee Akhtar Ul Iman. This is being seen as a three-way contest among them.

The constituency will witness a three-way contest on the polling day on April 26. As the din of the campaign ended on Wednesday evening, the voters were left with promises made by all the contestants about improving the conditions of the area. 

Speaking to Awaz-The Voice, NDA candidate Master Mujahid Alam said if he is elected his priority would be to stem the tide of outward migration from the area for cities as there are almost no job opportunities there. Besides he would also deal with the recurring floods in the area.

Mujahid Alam says he has many plans up his sleeves for the areas. Some of these are an AIIMS-like multi-specialty hospital, creating employment opportunities by making use of Kishenganj's proximity to many National Highways. "I will try to boost the industry while completing the stalled work of the Mahananda Basin. The project of the Kishanganj-Jalalganj railway line has been approved but funds are not allocated. I will try to get the funding."

Dr. Mohammad Jawed of Congress campaigning

Besides, the proposed campus of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) at Kishanganj is also stuck due to lack of funding. "If I am elected, it will pave the way to get funding for AMU Kishanganj Center along with setting up the Seemanchal University."

Mujahid Alam says that the main problems of Kishanganj are health, education, erosion of rivers, unemployment, and labor migration. It may be noted that Mujahid Alam is contesting the Lok Sabha elections for the first time. He is undeterred by the fact that JDU candidates have never won from here. Mujahid Alam is a former MLA from Kochadhaman Assembly Constituency.

Speaking with Awaz-The Voice AIMIM's candidate Akhtar-ul-Iman blamed both the state and the central government for the backwardness of Kishanganj. Akhtar ul Iman is contesting from Kishanganj for a second time as a candidate of the AIMIM; he lost the last elections. He is the state president of his party. 

In the last Bihar assembly elections, the All India Majlis-e-Itihaadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) headed by the fiery MP Akbaruddin Owaisi won 5 seats for the first time from the ​​Semanchal region. However, after the election, four MLAs left the party and joined RJD. Akhtar-ul-Iman was thus the only MLA of his party left in the Bihar House.

Akhtar-ul-Iman comes across as a good orator and a bold and straightforward leader. Regarding the Lok Sabha election, he said, "This time our party is in the field with a lot of strength in this region." He says Kishanganj is the only area of the state where people in hordes are forced to migrate to cities in search of livelihoods. "There is no Indian city where the people of this area are not seen present as workers."

Mujahid Alam campaigning in Kisanganj

He says so far, no dedicated plan to end the miseries of this region has been ever made and he would seek to have one.

His solution to the Seemanchal's backwardness is invoking Article 371 of the Indian Constitution which safeguards the rights of local people in employment and education and has been implemented in many such areas in the country to change its chronic poverty and deprivation.

He said that as per the caste-based census report, it's clear that this is the most neglected area in Bihar.

Congress candidate Mohammad Jawed was not available for an interview. He has almost promised the same developmental projects to the people of the constituency. The sitting MP said he has raised his voice for the region in Lok Sabha.

Notably, the issue of the unfinished project of AMU Kishanganj has become a major election issue and for this reason all candidates spoke about it in their speeches.

Jawed enjoys the advantage of the Constituency's reputation as a bastion of Congress. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when the Modi wave swept the country and Bihar too, Kishanganj was the only Lok Sabha seat that chose Congress candidate Mohammad Jawed.

Kishanganj's lack of development is stark and bizarre given that it is located 400 km from capital Patna. Kishanganj is a Muslim-majority area where more than 60 percent of the population earns their livelihood through agriculture. Employment opportunities are available to very few people. The trains to Delhi, Maharashtra, and other cities bear testimony to the mass migration for economic reasons. The problem of migration is a serious one. 

Here dozens of rivers are still without bridges; healthcare facilities are scanty and the problem is so acute that many people die while being taken to hospitals in nearby areas.

Akhtar-ul-Iman campaigning with his supporters

The Kishenganj Constituency has always been represented in the Lok Sabha by a Muslim. The only exception was when Lakhanlal Kapoor of the Janata Dal was elected in 1967. 

Prominent leaders who represented the Constituency are: Muhammad Taslimuddin, known as the Gandhi of Semanchal, Syed Shahabuddin, famous journalist and intellectual, former union ministers MJ Akbar and Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, and renowned religious scholar Maulana Asrarul Haque Qasmi. 

Despite having sent such stalwarts to the Lok Sabha, the people of Kishanganj live in backwardness created by the lack of connectivity and development.

The Kishanganj Lok Sabha constituency comprises six assembly constituencies: Bahadurganj, Thakurganj, Kishanganj, Kuchadhaman, Kishanganj was represented eight times by the Congress Party, once each by the Janata Party, PSP, BJP, Lok Dal, twice each by the Janata Dal, and RJD.

Overall, the people of Kishanganj gave opportunity to all the political parties to represent Kishanganj but none of the political parties showed seriousness in solving the basic problem of Kishanganj. If seriousness had been shown, the picture of the area in the data would have been seen to present a different view.

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As the campaigning in the Kishanganj Lok Sabha election ended, it seemed that all the candidates were making identical promises yet another time to the people.