BHABUA, Oct. 24 -- As the Bihar Assembly elections approach, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has made a renewed effort to woo Paswan voters in southwestern Bihar by extending support to Ravi Shankar Paswan, also known as Ravi Paswan, an independent candidate from the Mohania (SC) assembly constituency. Ravi Paswan, the son of senior BJP leader Chhedi Paswan - a four-time MP from Sasaram and former MLA from Mohania - decided to contest as an independent candidate after being denied a BJP ticket. On Wednesday, the Election Commission cancelled the nomination of RJD's official candidate from Mohania, Shweta Suman, on the grounds that she was originally a resident of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and, therefore, ineligible to contest from a reserved seat in Bihar as per election rules. Following the cancellation, the RJD promptly brought Ravi Paswan to Patna, where Grand Alliance (GA) convener Tejashwi Yadav announced him as the RJD-supported candidate from Mohania later in the evening. Political analysts have termed the RJD's move a strategic attempt to consolidate Paswan votes in 22 assembly segments spread across Rohtas and Kaimur districts, where both major alliances have largely overlooked the community. The BJP has fielded only Mahesh Paswan from Agiaon (SC) in Bhojpur. Political analyst Dadan Pandey of Sasaram said there are about 22,000 Paswan voters in the Mohania (SC) constituency and an average of 12,000 Paswan votes across each of the 22 assembly constituencies in the four districts of the old Shahabad region-Kaimur, Rohtas, Buxar, and Bhojpur. He added that Chhedi Paswan continues to wield considerable influence among the community....