In Bihar's Dumraon, a young royal tries his luck as an independent candidate

DUMRAON (BUXAR): Royal families in recent years do not have much of a presence in Bihar politics, but that is not discouraging a young member of the erstwhile estate of Dumraon from trying his luck in the assembly elections
Shivang Vijay Singh, who holds a degree in hotel management, has entered the fray as an independent in the contest for the Dumraon assembly seat. He is the grandson of the late Maharaja Kamal Singh, who represented Buxar Lok Sabha seat for two consecutive terms - 1952 and 1957- as an independent. Kamal Singh died in January this year at the age of 93.

“I want to carry forward the political legacy of my grandfather Maharaja Kamal Singhji. I am getting a good response from voters,” 31-year-old Shivang Singh told ET.

Kamal Singh was a popular face in the old Shahabad region in view of his contributions, particularly in the education and health sectors. This is the chord which Shivang tries to strike with the voters of Dumraon as he appeals to them to give him a chance to improve health and the education services in the constituency.

He has covered almost every part of the constituency, besides undertaking door-to-door campaigning in Dumraon town which has a large number of voters.

He however faces a tough challenge with the JDU fielding a woman candidate, Anjum Ara, and the RJD allotting the seat to the CPI (ML) which fielded a young candidate, Ajit Kumar Kushwaha.

To make it harder still, local face Dadan Singh Yadav alias Pehalwan, who was denied a JDU ticket this time despite being the sitting MLA, is also contesting as an independent. Pehalwan was elected to the state assembly from this seat in 2000, 2005 (February), 2005 (October) and 2015.

Shivang did his schooling in Dehradun before going on to take his hotel managememnt degree, but avers that he is quite well known to both the young and senior voters in Dumraon.

Royal families have not been much part of Bihar's electoral politics ever since the decades of the JP movement. Besides Shivang , the only other royal family members contesting this time are Shreyasi Singh (Jamui) and Rashmi Verma( Narkatiyaganj) from the BJP.