Karakat Seat: Will Independent Pawan Singh, Who Spurned BJP's Asansol Ticket, Dent NDA Prospects?

Patna: Bhojpuri singer and actor Pawan Singh, who had declined a BJP ticket for the Asansol seat in West Bengal, announced to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections from Bihar's Karakat seat as an independent candidate. 

Under NDA seat-sharing arrangements, Karakat is the only seat allotted to the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM). Its national president and former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha is in fray from the Karakat segment. 

The seat will go into polls in the seventh phase on June 1. But the question now looms large: Will Pawan Singh's entry dent votes of NDA? 

Singh announced of contesting the Karakat seat on X through a post in Hindi which reads, "One’s mother carries greater weight than this earth. I had promised my mother that I would contest elections this time. I will stand from Karakat, Bihar, in the Lok Sabha polls. Jai Mata Di."

No More Bipolar Fight in Karakat

With Pawan Singh's entry, the straightforward battle between NDA's Kushwaha and Mahagathbandhan candidate has turned into a three-cornered fight. 

The Karakat Lok Sabha constituency includes three assembly seats from Rohtas district and three from Aurangabad. This includes Nokha, Dehri, and Karakat in Rohtas district, and Goh, Obra, and Nabinagar in Aurangabad district.

In terms of voters composition, over 18 lakh voters are set to participate in polling in Karakat this Lok Sabha elections. It's one of the seats in Bihar where Yadav and Kushwaha voters are many, but Sawarn (General) votes are also plenty. 

Close to 3 lakh Sawarn voters and around 2.5 lakh Kushwaha voters are estimated in Karakat. Among these, voters from the Rajput community constitute the majority within the General quota. 

Given that Pawan Singh belongs to the same Rajput community, he poses a significant challenge to the other two Kushwaha candidates from NDA and INDI bloc.