As Anant Singh leads by an extensive margin in the Mokama constituency, his supporters have taken up a new slogan. Posters in and around Mokama are replete with the phrase, “Jail ka faatak tootega, hamara sher chootega.” His followers consider him the sher trapped in the clutches of the jail who will soon be free to rule his constituency.
Singh, a former MLA and a well-known political figure in Bihar, was recently taken into custody on 2 November along with two associates, Manikant Thakur and Ranjit Ram, from his residence in Barh near Patna. Despite his arrest, voting trends indicate that Singh has a massive lead over his competitors. He is ahead of RJD candidate Veena Devi, with Jan Suraj’s Priyadarshi Piyush also in the fray.
Mokama, situated in Patna district and part of the Munger parliamentary seat, has long been a sensitive constituency known for high-stakes contests. In 2020, RJD’s Anant Kumar Singh won the seat, defeating JD(U)’s Rajeev Lochan Narayan Singh.
The Election Commission of India reported a voter turnout of 68.52% in the second phase of polling across 122 constituencies as of 5 pm on Tuesday.
Even though Anant Singh is in jail, a win will still grant him the authority of an elected leader. Under special provisions, he will be allowed to take oath; in most cases, suspects are granted temporary parole to fulfill duties such as oath-taking.
As of 13:48 by the Election Commission, Anant Singh has secured a lead of 23,462 votes ahead of his competitors as the 20th round of counting completes.
Anant Singh’s Shifting Loyalties Between RJD and JD(U)
With close to 28 criminal cases, Anant Singh has won the Mokama Assembly seat five times. He made his assembly debut in 2005 and retained the seat for the JD(U) in the 2010 election.
In 2015, he quit the JD(U) after Nitish Kumar joined hands with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD. He contested as an independent and defeated the JD(U) candidate. However, in 2020, right before the election, Singh moved to the RJD and won once again.
In 2022, he was convicted in an arms case and lost his assembly membership. His wife, Neelam Devi, contested the by-election and retained the Mokama seat.
