Shahpur, Bihar Assembly constituency
Shahpur Assembly constituency is one of 243 legislative assembly seats of legislative assembly of Bihar. It is part of Arrah lok sabha constituency along with other assembly constituencies viz Sandesh, Barhara, Arrah, Agiaon, Tarari and Jagdishpur.
In Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha, there was a constituency by the same name, but the Shahpur Assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh became defunct in 2008. Its serial number in the Election commission records is 198.
Former Bihar minister and veteran socialist leaderRamanand Tiwari served as MLA from here for five consecutive terms from 1952 to 1969. This seat has been considered a stronghold of socialists. The Tiwari family has always held the Shahpur seat. Ramanand Tiwari's son, Shivanand Tiwari, won on an RJD ticket in 2000 and 2005, followed by his grandson Rahul Tiwari in 2015 and 2020.
BJP has been betting on a single family in the Shahpur Assembly constituency for the past twenty years. In 2005, the BJP first fielded Munni Devi, wife of Mukteshwar Ojha alias Bhuar Ojha, a resident of Ojhavaliya village in Shahpur, and the niece of Visheshwar Ojha. In the election, she defeated a stalwart like Shivanand Tiwari. 2010, Munni Devi defeated RJD's Dharampal Singh for a second time. However, in 2015, the party denied sitting MLA Munni Devi's ticket. In her place, her brother-in-law, Visheshwar Ojha, was appointed state vice president and declared the party's candidate from Shahpur. However, in this election, Shivanand Tiwari's son and RJD candidate, Rahul Tiwari, defeated her.
Subsequently, in the 2020 elections, the BJP again fielded Munni Devi. However, this time, her sister-in-law, Shobha Devi, wife of the late Visheshwar Ojha, also contested as an independent candidate. Her son, Rakesh Visheshwar Ojha, led the election campaign. However, due to the infighting between the sister-in-law and sister-in-law, RJD candidate Rahul Tiwari won for the second time.