Bihar Gears Up for Final Phase of Polling on Tuesday

New Delhi/Patna: The second and final phase of polling in Bihar will take place on Tuesday when the electoral fortunes of 1,302 candidates, including over half a dozen ministers in the Nitish Kumar government, will be sealed. The incumbent ruling alliance has dubbed the ongoing polls as “development versus jungle raj” while the Opposition Mahagathbandhan are campaigning for “parivartan”, or change

Around 3.70 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise across 122 Assembly seats on Tuesday. The districts going to the polls on November 11 include West Champaran, East Champaran, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Supaul, Araria and Kishanganj, and all these share borders with Nepal.

Security has been stepped up across Bihar for the second phase of the Assembly polls, with over four lakh personnel engaged in election duties, officials said.

After the voting ends Tuesday evening, all eyes will be on the exit poll forecasts to be aired by the television news channels, which will indicate if the advantage lies with the ruling or Opposition side, before the results are declared on November 14.

Most of these districts going to the polls fall in the Seemanchal region, which has a high concentration of Muslims, making it a high-stakes battle for both the INDIA bloc, which banks on the support of the minority community, as well as the ruling NDA, which alleges that the opposition is “protecting infiltrators”.

Among prominent candidates whose fate will be sealed include veteran JD(U) leader Bijendra Prasad Yadav, who seeks to retain his Supaul seat for a record eighth term. His Cabinet colleague and BJP leader Prem Kumar is contesting from Gaya Town, a seat which he has won since 1990.

Other ministers include BJP’s Renu Devi (Bettiah) and Neeraj Kumar Singh “Bablu” (Chhatapur), and JD(U)'s Leshi Singh (Dhamdaha), Sheela Mandal (Phulparas) and Zama Khan (Chainpur).

Former deputy chief minister Tarkishore Prasad is contesting from Katihar for a fifth consecutive term. Katihar district is also home to Balrampur and Kadwa assembly seats, where a hat-trick is being aimed at by Mehboob Alam and Shakeel Ahmed Khan, respectively, the legislative party leaders of the CPI(ML) Liberation and the Congress.

The second and final phase is also being seen as a test of strength for minor NDA partners Hindustani Awam Morcha, headed by Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, and Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha, both of which have got six seats each.

All six seats contested by HAM are going to the polls in the second phase. Four of these, Imamganj, Barachatti, Tikari and Sikandra, are currently held by the party, and the sitting MLAs have been given the chance to try their luck again.

Mr Manjhi has held Imamganj seat till he got elected to the Lok Sabha from Gaya last year, and it was retained, in the bypoll that followed, by his daughter-in-law Dipa. Barachatti is held by Dipa’s mother Jyoti Devi.

Candidates of the RLM, which has no representation in the state legislature, include Mr Kushwaha’s wife Snehlata and his most trusted aide Madhaw Anand, who are making their debut from Sasaram and Madhubani respectively.

Four of the six candidates fielded by the party are going to the polls in the second phase.

Another major candidate in the fray is state Congress president Rajesh Kumar, who hopes to retain the Kutumba reserved seat for a second consecutive term.

A number of turncoats are also in the fray, including Mohania MLA Sangita Kumari, who won the seat as an RJD candidate in 2020 but is now contesting on a BJP ticket. Another is Vibha Devi, the MLA from Nawada, who recently quit the Opposition and joined the JD(U).

Similar is the case of Murari Gautam, who was a minister from the Congress quota in the “Mahagathbandhan” government but crossed over to the NDA when Nitish Kumar realigned with the BJP last year. He is contesting from his current seat, Chenari, on the ticket of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan.

Another keenly watched candidate will be Chanakya Prakash Ranjan, whose father is a former state minister and second-term JD(U) MP from Banka, who raised many eyebrows by joining the RJD ahead of the Assembly polls. He is contesting the Belhar seat on the Opposition party's symbol.

Voting in the second phase will take place across 45,399 polling stations, of which 40.073 fall in rural areas. More than half of the electorate (2.28 crores) is aged between 30 and 60 years. Only 7.69 lakh are in the 18-19 years age group. The total number of women voters in the 122 constituencies is 1.75 crore.

The Hisua seat in Nawada district has the largest electorate (3.67 lakh), while Lauria, Chanpatia, Raxaul, Triveniganj, Sugauli and Banmakhi have the most number of candidates (22 each).

Bihar recorded the “highest ever” voter turnout of over 65 per cent in the polling across 121 constituencies in the first phase of the Assembly elections. The results will be declared on Friday, November 14.