Balrampur is an Assembly / Vidhan Sabha seat in the Koshi region and Katihar district of Bihar. It shares an inter-state border with Katihar. This General Assembly constituency has an estimated Scheduled Caste population of 1.65%. The estimated literacy level of the district in which this constituency falls is 52.24%.
Incumbent Mehboob Alam of the CPI-ML won by the most votes in the election, securing 53,597 votes over the second-placed candidate – Virendra Kumar Ojha of the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP). He was the incumbent MLA in the seat of Balrampur. The CPI-ML leader still remains without a ‘pucca’ house.
He is one of three CPI (ML) legislators who managed to win in the 2015 election, when the CPI (ML) stood alone in the elections with JD (U)-RJD- Congress alliance on one end and BJP-led NDA alliance on the other.
In 2016, Legislator Mehboob Alam was booked for allegedly slapping a branch manager of a bank in Katihar district. When contacted Alam, he told PTI “the allegations are completely baseless. If the branch manager has lodged a case against me then I will also lodge a counter case… I had gone with people’s problems to the branch manager who is a corrupt man.”
According to media reports, police got CCTV footage which confirmed the incident of slapping, the police official said.
The candidates who contested in the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections from Balrampur were: Khawaja Bahauddin Ahmed (NCP), Sangita Devi (LJP), Azad Khan (RJKP), Md. Noor Alam (PCP), Md. Fakhruddin (JDS), Barun Kumar Jha (VIP), Mahboob Alam (CPIMLL), Munovar Husain (SDPI), Md. Shamim Akhtar (PPID), Sakir Alam (BMP), Jagannath Das (IND), Md. Zinnah (IND), Tanweer Shamsi (IND), Sunil Chaudhary (IND).
In the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections, Mahboob Alam of CPIMLL won this seat by defeating Barun Kumar Jha of BJP by a margin of 20,419 votes which was 10.35% of the total votes polled in the constituency. CPIMLL had a vote share of 31.7% in 2015 in the seat.
In 2010, Dulal Chandra Goshwami of IND won this seat defeating CPIMLL by a margin of 2,704 votes which was 1.84% of the total votes polled in the constituency. IND had a vote share of 32.69% in 2010 in the seat.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, JDU got the most votes in 65. Balrampur Assembly segment of Katihar Lok Sabha constituency. JDU’s Dulal Chandra Goswami won the Katihar Parliament seat.
In the 2020 elections, there were a total of 327 polling stations in 65. Balrampur constituency. The corresponding figure in the 2015 elections was 285. In 2010 there were 241 polling stations.
The Nitish Kumar-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) cantered to a close win in the Bihar Assembly Elections 2020, securing another five-year term in power.
Kumar will continue his tenure as the longest-serving chief minister of Bihar, adding to his 15-year stewardship of the state. However, his Janata Dal-United (JDU) was a big loser on the night, dropping 28 seats with 43 wins.
RJD emerged as the single-largest party in the assembly with 75 seats, shedding five seats from the 2015 election. Meanwhile, the Congress could only secure 19 wins from the 70 seats they contested, even less than the 27 it had won in the previous assembly.
