Bokaro, Dec. 3: Chandankiyari, a small but politically significant constituency in Bokaro district, is all set to witness a four-cornered contest among the JD(U), Ajsu, JMM and JVM.
Most of the 1.85 lakh voters of the constituency — sandwiched between Bokaro steel city, Dhanbad and Bengal’s Purulia districts — are semi-literate. Men from this slee- py town are either employed in other states or are involved in the coal trade, as the farmland in the area is far from fertile.
Marked as a reserved seat, Chandankiyari has 98,715 male voters and 86,955 women voters, while its literacy rate is less than 40 per cent.
In the 1977 election, Ramdas Ram of the Congress was elected from this constituency, but in 1980, the Congress lost the seat to present MLA Haru Rajwar, who contested as an Independent to defeat Satish Dhoba. But in 1985 and 1990, Lata Devi of the CPI(Marxist-Leninist) and Gaur Harijan of the BJP won, respectively, with Rajwar finishing second in 1990. In 2000 and 2005, Rajwar contested this seat on a JMM ticket and won it by marginal votes.
Rajwar got a huge mandate from the dominating Schedule Castes (about 65,000) and the Bhumihars, who constitute about 20 per cent of the population. The tribal population numbers about 30,000.
This time, rebuffed by the JMM, which has offered a ticket to his nephew Santosh, Rajwar managed a JD(U) berth in the final hours. Being an NDA candidate, his competition is with Ajsu’s Umakant Rajak, who was also runner-up in 2005, and JVM’s Amar Boury.
Unemployment and development are principal issues for voters in the constituency, as the roads leading to this zone are in poor condition and students find it hard to enrol themselves in two colleges.
All the candidates are confident of victory. While Santosh banks on the charisma of Shibu Soren, Rajwar hopes to romp home on the loyalty factor. Rajak thinks his contacts will offer him victory, while JVM’s Amar is banking on former minister Samresh Singh, who is still quite popular in the zone.
Rajwar told The Telegraph that the people of Chandankiyari are like his “close relatives” who he has visited whenever they have called.
Rajak and Santosh on their part said Rajwar was getting old and had done nothing for the constituency. They both claimed that youths were with them.
