The fact that she is the wife of a three-time MLA has not deterred Molani Devi from selling vegetables and she is now helping her husband Loknath Mahto to take on sitting MP Yashwant Sinha's foreign-educated son, Jayant and Congress' Saurabh N Singh in this Lok Sabha seat.
It might appear to be an unusual occupation for a neta's wife, but Molani Devi says she practises her trade more out of tradition than need. Interestingly, the declared assets of the Mahto couple amount to more than Rs 2 crore.
"What is the shame in selling vegetables, this is our traditional job. I love carrying baskets on my head to the haat (rural market), which is hardly 1-km from my village, Ashok Tola. It fetches me in the range of Rs 200 to Rs 300 daily," Molani Devi told PTI.
Her husband, who has been a BJP MLA from Barkagaon thrice - 1995, 2000 and 2005, left his old party this time to contest on an All Jharkhand Students' Union ticket after the saffron outfit fielded Jayant from here.
"It is sad that BJP, a party to which I devoted my entire life, could not find a committed candidate other than Sinha's son when there are so many senior leaders here. "Sinha has been an MP from the constituency but, despite being in crucial posts like former Finance Minister he could not do anything for the people here," he said.
Mahto is confident about winning the contest, saying that it is the work done by him over the last 15 years which will fetch him votes here and claimed that it was his efforts which made it possible for people here to get jobs on compensatory grounds after the death of family members in the collieries of Central Coalfields Ltd. Voting in Hazaribagh - considered to be communally sensitive - was scheduled for April 10 but was deferred to April 17 on account of the festival of Ram Navami, which is celebrated with much fervour in the area.
Covering the entire district of Ramgarh and portions of Hazaribagh district, the Hazaribagh parliamentary constituency is one of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the Maoist-affected state of Jharkhand.
There are five assembly segments in this constituency. However, exuding confidence of his win, Jayant said, "I am not contesting alone. I am contesting with (the support of) Narendra Modi and Yashwant Sinha. We are telling the people that their one vote will serve three purposes -- Modiji will become Prime Minister,
Yashwant Sinha will remain as the guardian of Hazaribagh and Ramgarh and I will be at their service with my hard work." Apart from the foreign-educated Jayant, the 69-year-old Mahto is facing Congress's Saurabh Narain Singh and CPI's Bhuneshwar Prasad Mehta in the battle for the seat where 16 others have registered themselves as contestants.
Mahto can count on support from the significant numbers of Kurmi and Koeri voters here and also claims that he will be getting votes cutting across caste lines as it is his work which speaks for itself.
"We are the sons of the soil. We are very simple and would remain such. We can't afford to buy votes through money raised from the exploitation of people," he said. As he attempts to win the contest here against big names, it is his wife who is also contributing financially to his election fund. "If I will not support him, who else will," said Molani Devi.
The combined assets of the couple stand at Rs 2.67 crore, but Mahto says it is agriculture which is his passion. His two sons run a HP petrol pump in Barkagaon. In his affidavit to Election Commission, Mahto has declared that he has Rs 1 lakh cash while cash in Molani Devi's hand is shown to be Rs 50,000.
His total income for 2012-13 was Rs 8.98 lakh. His movable assets were valued at Rs 9.55 lakh while those of his spouse were assessed to be worth Rs 2.83 lakh. Mahto also owns 10 acres of agricultural land.
The value of Mahto's immovable assets stands at Rs 1.83 crore while that of his wife is Rs 36 lakh. The liabilities, including that for a bank loan for a vehicle, stand at Rs 2.36 lakh.
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