DHAMDAHA (PURNIA), Nov. 8 -- Forty-five-year-old Saroj Kumar Mehta of Chandrehi village is a confused voter this election. The reason - former Purnia MP Santosh Kumar has entered the fray against sitting JD(U) MLA Leshi Singh. "I can't understand why he (Santosh Kumar) defected to RJD to contest from Dhamdaha - the safest seat for JD(U) in Bihar," says Saroj. He admits being perplexed as the RJD nominee belongs to his own Kushwaha caste. "We are trapped between caste and development. Voters are clearly divided on these two issues," he adds. The same dilemma troubles Vijay Kumar Mehta (35), a local JD(U) leader from the same village. "I have been with JD(U), and now Santosh Kumar - a two-time MP and my caste mate - is contesting from RJD. I am really confused this time while choosing between caste and development," he says, conceding that "Leshi Singh has done a lot for this constituency." Another villager, Dhaneshwar Mehta (40), echoes similar confusion. "Our constituency has once again been dragged into caste politics after two decades. In Bihar, you know, caste often overrides everything," he remarks. Sushant Kumar of Dhamdaha adds, "The contest is between caste and development. It's hard to predict who will win, but in the interest of democracy, caste must not prevail." The Dhamdaha Assembly seat has thus sharply polarised between caste and development politics, with a direct contest between five-time MLA Leshi Singh and JD(U) turncoat Santosh Kumar, now the RJD candidate. Leshi Singh, who first won from Dhamdaha in 2000 on a Samata Party ticket, has since retained the seat five times, losing only once - in October 2005. Known for her loyalty, she has never switched sides. Santosh Kumar, on the other hand, is no stranger to political shifts. He surprised many by winning the Baisi Assembly seat in 2010 on a BJP ticket, later defected to JD(U), and won the Purnia Lok Sabha seat in 2014 by defeating BJP heavyweight Uday Singh alias Pappu Singh, even amid the Modi wave. He retained the seat in 2019 but lost to Pappu Yadav in 2024. A total of 11 candidates are contesting from Dhamdaha this time. Apart from JD(U) and RJD, Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) and AIMIM have also fielded candidates - Rakesh Kumar from JSP and Mohammad Ishtiyaq Alam from AIMIM. The constituency has 3,14,759 voters, including 1,63,918 males, 1,50,827 females, and 14 third-gender voters. Dhamdaha constituency came into existence in 1957, when Bhola Paswan Shastri and Lakshmi Narayan Sudhanshu of the Congress won the seat. Shastri later became the Chief Minister of Bihar, while Sudhanshu went on to become the Speaker of the Bihar Assembly. Congress has won Dhamdaha six times, but not since 1995. RJD captured it once - in October 2005, when Dilip Kumar Yadav defeated Leshi Singh. Since 2010, Leshi Singh has maintained her dominance in the constituency....