Bihar Assembly Elections: 2.34 crore from 78 assembly constituencies to vote today

Bihar assembly election today will see people in 78 constituencies vote to choose their next government. At least 1,204 candidates are contesting in the final phase.

Some of the prominent candidates in this phase are the BJP’s Niraj Kumar Singh in Chhatapur seat, cousin of actor Sushant Singh Rajput; Congress’s Bihariganj candidate Subhashini Sharad Yadav, daughter of former Union minister Sharad Yadav; Janata Dal United’s Sarairanjan candidate Vijay Kumar Choudhary, who is also the Bihar assembly Speaker, and BJP’s Suresh Kumar Sharma, the Urban Development Minister contesting from Muzaffarpur. Voting is also being held for the Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha seat, where a by-election was necessitated by the death of JD(U) MP Baidyanath Mahato.

The JD(U) bid to retain the Valmiki Nagar parliamentary seat by fielding Baidyanath Mahato’s son Sunil Kumar is facing a challenge from Congress candidate Pravesh Kumar Mishra, a journalist-turned-politician. Like Valmiki Nagar, the 78 assembly segments spread across 19 districts also fall in north Bihar, as areas falling north of the Ganges in the state are called.

Many of these areas fall in the Kosi-Seemanchal region, where the contest between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Grand Alliance will be held under the shadow of the “Owaisi factor”, given that the AIMIM has fielded candidates in many of the Muslim-dominated seats here, and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi had carried out a relatively big campaign.

The Kosi-Seemanchal region also happens to be the main area of influence for former MP Pappu Yadav, whose Jan Adhikar Party is looking to make its presence felt and prove a point to the Rashtriya Janata Dal as both draw their support from the state’s most populous community, the Yadavs.

As in the previous two phases, candidates of Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) are contesting in a number of seats this time, threatening the JD(U). While the NDA looked surefooted till a few months ago, the ruling coalition seemed to have taken a more cautious note as appeals to voters came from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar towards the end of the campaign.

The RJD, once considered an election-winning machine in Bihar, is hoping for a comeback, enthused by the response its chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav, 31, received in his over two dozen rallies. The RJD is part of an alliance comprising its old ally, the Congress, besides the Left parties.

The voting percentage in the second phase on 94 seats was 55.70 per cent. The votes will be counted on November 10.