Nalanda is referred to as the political fortress and home turf of Janta Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar. The setting up of Nalanda University, Sudha Dairy Plant, Bihar Police Academy and the Central Reserve Police Force training camp in district is a testament to the fact that Nitish takes extra care of his brand image in the district.

The Nalanda district goes to polls in the third phase of the Bihar Assembly election tomorrow along with 50 constituencies of Saran, Vaishali, Nalanda, Patna, Bhojpur and Buxar districts.

It is going to be the biggest litmus test for the Yadav-Kurmi coalition of the Grand Alliance.

Most voters in the seven seats of Nalanda remember the collapse of law and order during Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Lalu Yadav’s regime. But political pundits believe the Yadav-Kurmi-Muslim coalition may work well for the Grand Alliance. The National Democratic Alliance will be counting on upper caste voters and anti-incumbency – but Nalanda is going to be a tough battle for the Bharatiya Janata Party.

In the 2010 Assembly Elections, when JDU and BJP were coalition partners, six out of the seven seats went to JDU. This year, NDA has kept three seats for itself, while the JDU has fielded six candidates.

With a total number of 20,08,842 voters, Nalanda’s seven seats are going to be interesting with varied candidates comprising ministers, workers, comrades, cops and even those related to Bihar’s mafia.

Asthawan

The Grand Alliance has again fielded sitting MLA Jitendra Kumar of JDU, who will fight to make it fourth time lucky. NDA is fielding Chote Lal Yadav of LJP. Pappu Yadav’s Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) has also fielded Pramod Kumar, who belongs to the same caste as the Grand Alliance’s candidate.

Bihar Sharif

This seat presents a three-way battle. The NDA has given a ticket to sitting MLA Dr Sunil Kumar, who was earlier with JDU. Dr Suneel is said to be a film producer and comes from a financially-solid background. The Grand Alliance has fielded Azgar Shamsi, considering the good number of Muslim voters in this seat. JAP has also fielded a Muslim candidate — Afreen Sulatana — who is the wife of former MLA Pappu Khan. The Muslim and even a good chunk of Yadav votes may split between the Grand Alliance and JAP, which may eventually help NDA. A total of 13 candidates will contest from this seat.

Rajgir

The religious land of Rajgir, which is the stronghold of BJP, has evoked a wide national interest with the entry of a former cop, Ravi Jyoti, who will be contesting from the JDU camp. He has gathered wide support in the area owing to his massive campaigns over the past few months. He comes from Darbhanga and is of the Paswan caste. The NDA has fielded sitting BJP MLA Satydev Narayan Arya who has won eight consecutive times from the seat. Hoping to give him a run for his money is Communist Party of India’s Amit Paswan.

Islampur

After a long time, both the Grand Alliance and the NDA have fielded a “karyakarta” (worker) instead of a “neta” (politician) from this seat. The Grand Alliance has fielded Chandra Sen Prasad, while the NDA has given a ticket to Virendra Gop — both of them are considered to be ground-level workers. CPI (ML) has fielded Umesh Paswan from the same seat who is also a senior grass-root level worker. The seat has the highest number of candidates contesting – a total of 22 – and most of them are said to be “dummy” candidates fielded by both the NDA and Grand Alliance.

Hilsa

Ranjeet Singh alias Ranjeet Don, despite his brother’s disastrous defeat in the recent MLC elections, has been rewarded again with a ticket for his wife Deepika Kumari from LJP. She will be in close contest with RJD’s Shakti Singh Yadav alias Atri Muni, who is a close aide of Lalu. In 2010, JDU’s Usha Sinha won from this seat. Lalu has done massive campaigns for Shakti and even Nitish went to the areas several times to campaign for him. CPI (ML) had fielded Ashok Kumar and NDA is primarily banking on allies Hindustani Awam Morcha and LJP in this seat. There are a total of 16 candidates from Hilsa.

Nalanda

The Assembly seat is the stronghold of Nitish’s close adviser, minister and most trusted man who is a Kurmi by caste — Shrawan Kumar. He has been winning from this seat since 1995. This year, he will face a tough fight from NDA’s Kaushalendra Kumar alias Chote Mukhiya. CPI(ML) has fielded Manmohan Kumar. NDA is banking on the coalition factor to work here to break Nitish’s spell in this seat. A total of 13 candidates are contesting from this seat.

Harnaut

The CM’s home ground and the toughest seat for NDA, the Grand Alliance has again placed its bets on MLA Harinarayan Singh, while NDA has given a ticket to Arun Bind who had also contested in 2010 from the same seat on an LJP ticket. CPI(ML) has fielded Ram Das Akela, while a total of 14 candidates are in contest from this seat.