Rarely does an election rally turn out to be as meaningless as the one addressed by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in Kishanganj in Bihar on Wednesday. About 8,000 men, women and children cheered enthusiastically as Gandhi delineated the differences between visions of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party and sought their votes for his party’s nominee Mohammad Asrarul Haque.

He needn’t have taken the trouble. The Congress candidate is through even before the first vote has been cast. Haque's place was secured early on Tuesday, when the Janata Dal (United) candidate Akhtarul Iman withdrew from the race, ensuring that the Congress will get the undivided support of the Muslim voters who form nearly 70 per cent of the electorate here.

“I do not want to be blamed for the division of Muslim votes,” Iman told Scroll.in. “The division of Muslim votes might have facilitated the election of one more BJP MP from Kishanganj.”

In 2009, Haque won this seat in north-eastern Bihar with a margin of more than 80,000 votes over the JD(U)’s Syed Mahmood Ashraf. The constituency has always elected only Muslims to the Lok Sabha, except in 1967, when Lakhan Lal Kapur of Socialist Party won the seat. In 1999, BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain won from this constituency, primarily because Muslim votes were split between Haque and Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate Taslimuddin.

Said Iman, “I do not want to see the repeat of 1999. My own defeat won’t hurt me that much as the victory of a BJP candidate.” Dilip Kumar Jayaswal has been given the BJP ticket in Kishanganj.

Iman, who became MLA on a RJD ticket from Kochadhaman assembly seat in Kishanganj district in 2010, quit Lalu Prasad’s party last month to join the JD(U). Party leader Nitish Kumar rewarded him with the Lok Sabha ticket from Kishanganj. Iman filed his nomination papers on April 2 and started preparing for the elections. But days later, he said he realised that his candidature would divide the Muslim vote.

Although Iman says he will remain in the JD(U), his decision has come as a huge blow to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, whose party is pitted against both the Congress-RJD combine and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

With Iman’s withdrawal, the BJP now faces an uphill task in Kishanganj. Until Iman’s decision, the saffron party was hoping to benefit from the split in Muslim vote. Polling takes place here on April 24.