Pirpainti Assembly Constituency: Pirpainti assembly seat (Scheduled Caste reserved) in Bhagalpur district of Bihar, which borders Jharkhand and is situated on the banks of river Ganga, is in the news due to its political instability and diverse caste equations. This seat had been the center of the battle for supremacy between the Congress and the Left parties (Left) for decades, but now the contest has completely centered between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
The political history of Peerpainti assembly seat is very interesting. It was a general seat before the 2008 delimitation, after which it was reserved for SCs.
Old Dominance: After independence, CPI (six times) and Congress (five times) had strong dominance here.
new faces: After delimitation, this seat has been alternating between RJD (four times) and BJP (twice).
Result 2020: In the last assembly elections (2020), Lalan Singh of BJP won this seat by defeating Ram Vilas Paswan of RJD. The victory was significant for the BJP, breaking into the RJD’s strong base.
Pirpainti is the largest block in the district, where ethnic diversity decisively affects the election outcome:
Decisive basis: Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) have the highest number of voters, who play a decisive role due to having reserved seats.
Other communities: Apart from this, there are also a good number of voters from Muslim, Vaishya, Kurmi-Koeri and Dhanuk communities. Consolidation of Muslims and RJD’s traditional base (Dalit-Yadav) is important for RJD, while BJP tries to consolidate votes of other sections (Vaishya and upper caste).
River Ganga is the lifeline of Pirpainti, which has religious, cultural, agricultural and economic importance.
Basis of Economy: The economy here is based on agriculture, fishing and small scale industries. Pirpainti Power Plant is an important power plant in the area.
Problems: The problem of floods and erosion due to river Ganga remains a major challenge for this region, which is the center of election discussion in every election.
Cultural Heritage: The 150 year old Maa Kali temple, 100 year old Shiv temple and Peer’s tomb reflect the religious and cultural harmony of this region.
The 2025 elections will decide whether the BJP retains its seat, or the RJD brings back the old sequence of ‘turns’.
