Mokama Election 2025: Can RJD's Veena Devi challenge JDU's Anant Singh

The Mokama assembly constituency has been a stronghold of Anant Singh. During the 2005 and 2010 assembly elections, Singh won the seat as a Janata Dal United (JDU) leader. In 2015, he contested as an independent candidate and won again. In 2020, he had joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and had won Mokama again. 

In 2022, Singh was disqualified from the Bihar Legislative Assembly after he was convicted in a criminal case. Later, Singh fielded his wife Neelam devi in an bypoll, who also won the seat. This time, he has returned to the JDU and has been fielded once again by the party.

To challenge Singh, the RJD has fielded former MP Veena Devi in Mokama. However, the contest this time won't be just between the JDU and the RJD, as Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) has fielded Priyadarshi Piyush, making it a triangular contest.

The Mokama seat is one of the 243 assembly constituencies in Bihar. The constituency number of Mokama is 178, and it falls under the Munger Lok Sabha constituency. The Mokama assembly constituency, which is dominated by the Bhumihars, comprises CD Blocks Ghoswari and Mokama; Gram Panchayats Raili, Lemuabad, West Pandarak, East Pandarak, Kondi, Dhobhawan, Khushhal Chak, Chak Jalal, Ajgara Bakawan, Darwe Bhadaur and Baruane Bathoi of Pandarak CD Block.

According to the data available at Election Commission of India's (ECI) website, Mokama's population is 4,73,823 - 2,47,219 male and 2,26,604 female. 

According to the ECI, there were 2,75,028 voters in Mokama assembly constituency in the 2020 Bihar elections. Out of this, 1,44,727 were male, 1,30,298 were female and three belonged to the third gender. In the 2015 Bihar polls, there were 2,53,912 voters - 1,37,436 male, 1,16,475 female and one third gender - in Mokama.

What happened in the 2020 and 2015 Assembly Elections?

During the 2020 Bihar elections, Anant Singh contested as a RJD candidate won this seat with a thumping majority, receiving 78,721 votes (52.99 per cent). He had defeated JDU leader Rajeev Lochan Narayan Singh, who received 42,964 votes (28.92 per cent). At third place, LJP leader Suresh Singh Nishad received 13,331 votes (8.97 per cent).

In the 2015 Bihar polls, Singh had contested as an independent candidate and won this seat, receiving 54,005 votes (37.35 per cent). He defeated JDU's Neeraj Kumar, who received 35,657 votes (24.66 per cent). At third place, JAP(L) candidate Lalan Singh received 16,655 votes (11.52 per cent).