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Patna, Oct 18 (IANS) Warisaliganj Assembly seat in Nawada district is set to witness one of the most dramatic contests of the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections – a new chapter in the decades-long rivalry between two powerful political families.
RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav have expressed confidence in Anita Devi, wife of powerful leader Ashok Mahato, and fielded her from Warisaliganj.
Anita Devi, who contested from Munger against Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh in the Lok Sabha elections 2024 and suffered a crushing defeat, has once again got the symbol of RJD.
According to party sources, Anita Devi was given the ticket at Rabri Devi’s residence late on Thursday night, where Tejashwi himself handed over the party symbol to her.
She will take on sitting MLA and NDA’s BJP candidate Aruna Devi, who is also the wife of another influential strongman Akhilesh Singh.
Ashok Mahato, who was released from jail in December 2023 after spending 17 years in jail in the Nawada jailbreak case, is actively campaigning in the region.
Although he was barred from contesting elections due to his conviction, he has been gathering support for his wife for several weeks.
The rivalry between Ashok Mahato and Akhilesh Singh has dominated the politics of Warisaliganj-Nawada-Nalanda belt for almost three decades. What started as a battle of caste and region supremacy in the 1990s gradually turned into a political war between their families.
The electoral history of Warisaliganj reflects this tight competition.
Aruna Devi won the seat for the first time in 2000 on JDU ticket. In 2005, Pradeep Mahato, a close associate of Ashok Mahato, entered the fray, losing the February election but defeating Aruna Devi in the October re-election.
Pradeep Mahato retained the seat in 2010, but Aruna Devi returned with victory in 2015 and consolidated her position in 2020, winning by over 25,000 votes against RJD’s Aarti Singh on a BJP ticket.
Now, the stage is set for another high-stakes showdown – this time between the wives of two rival powerhouses.
Both Anita Devi and Aruna Devi are expected to rely heavily on the traditional support base created by their husbands.
Political observers believe that the contest will not only decide the future of Warisaliganj but will also serve as a litmus test for the RJD’s strategy of adopting muscle power to challenge the NDA’s hold in southern Bihar.
–IANS
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