2020 Bihar Assembly Election Voting Updates: Peaceful Elections, 53.51% Voter Turnout Recorded, EC Confirms

Voting updates for the 2020 Bihar Assembly electionsElections were held peacefully in 94 Assembly constituencies in Bihar on Tuesday, the Election Commission said in a briefing. Chandra Kumar Bhushan, a deputy electoral commissioner, said that of the 1,463 candidates, 494 had a criminal record. Rs 65.22 million have been seized as of morning compared to Rs 23.81 million in the 2015 Assembly elections, the official reported.

Onions were reportedly thrown at Prime Minister Nitish Kumar’s rally in Madhubani’s Harlakhi as he began to speak out about unemployment. The prime minister seemed unfazed and people were heard telling to throw more, as his security personnel moved in to protect him.

At a rally in Bihar’s Kishanganj, Congressional Leader Rahul Gandhi targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on various issues such as demonetization, the Center’s farm laws and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rahul criticized the prime minister for announcing an unannounced shutdown, claiming that only Congress had been willing to help stranded migrant workers.

A Border Security Force (BSF) deputy inspector on duty at a voting booth at the Lalganj assembly seat died of a heart attack.

Narendra Modi said that “a group of people does not want you to say”Bharat Mata ki Jai‘or’Jai Shri Ram‘”and have come together to ask the people of Bihar for votes.

The Election Commission technical team was rushed to a polling station in the village of Salaha Chandan in Fuhia Ghat of Samastipur on a boat after a VVPAT failure was reported. In the second phase of the Assembly elections in Bihar, a voter turnout of 11.43 percent was recorded at 11am.

JD (U) Chief Minister and Leader Nitish Kumar cast his vote at a government school in Digha, while MoS Home and BJP Leader Nityanand Rai cast their vote at a voting booth in the constituency of the Hajipur Assembly. The voting percentage of 8.05 percent was recorded until 9 a.m.

RJD leaders, Tejashwi Yadav and Rabri Devi, cast their votes at polling place number 160 in Patna. Former Bihar CM affirmed the need for change and development in the state.

After casting his vote at a polling station in Patna’s Rajendra Nagar, Senior Deputy Minister Sushil Kumar Modi appealed to people to get out of their homes, cast votes, maintain social distancing and wear masks. Meanwhile, LJP’s Chirag Paswan cast his vote at a voting booth in Raghopur.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to the voters of Bihar to come forward in large numbers for Phase 2 of the elections to “ensure the success of the festival of democracy”.

With the COVID-19 guidelines in place, the Phase 2 voting for the Bihar Assembly elections began at 7 am with 1,463 candidates in the fray in 94 seats in 17 districts. Among the key leaders competing in this phase are Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav.

The second phase of the Bihar Assembly election began at 7am on Tuesday (November 3). The second of the three-phase poll will see more than 2.85 crore voters cast their ballots, while there are nearly 1,500 candidates in the fray.

Voting will take place in 94 segments of the Assembly, representing more than a third of the 243 members of the Assembly spread across 17 districts.

With the exception of three districts, Patna, Bhagalpur and Nalanda, the other districts heading to the polls on Tuesday are located north of the Ganges River.

The districts in which voting will take place in the second phase are West Champaran, East Champaran, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, Vaishali, Samastipur, Begusarai, Khagaria, Bhagalpur, Nalanda and Patna.

Of the total of 1,463 candidates in the second phase, 1,316 are men, 146 are women and one is transgender. Of the total of 2,85,50,285 voters, 1,50,33,034 are men, 1,35,16,271 women and 980 transgender, according to data from the survey panel.

The Electoral Commission said it has installed a total of 41,362 booths in 18,823 polling stations.

Among the candidates for the second phase is Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD, the main ministerial candidate of the Opposition Grand Alliance, who has been aggressively trying to capitalize on the anti-incumbent factor against the government of Nitish Kumar.

The 31-year-old is seeking the re-election of Raghopur in the Vaishali district, who had snatched Satish Kumar from the BJP for his party in 2015. The BJP leader had defeated Yadav’s mother, Rabri Devi, a former chief minister, in 2010.

The BJP has retained its confidence in Satish Kumar, hoping that he can make a replay of 2010 when, like this time, the president of JD (U) Nitish was with the NDA.

Tejashwi’s older brother, Tej Pratap Yadav, is trying his luck at Hasanpur in the Samastipur district, changing his base from Mahua to Vaishali.

It was said that there were fears in the RJD camp that Tej Pratap’s attempt to retain Mahua could be challenged by the NDA through his ex-wife Aishwarya as his trump card. She is already actively participating in her father Chandrika Roy’s campaign in Parsa, which she has represented several times and is looking to retain on a JD (U) ticket this time.

The four segments of the Assembly in the capital city, Patna Sahib, Kumhrar, Bankipur and Digha will also go to the polls in the second phase. All of these are held by the BJP.

The Minister of State, Nand Kishore Yadav, is in the fray trying to retain Patna Sahib for the seventh consecutive term.

The multi-term MLA Nitin Nabin faces a challenge in Bankipur from Congressional candidate Luv Sinha, who is the son of actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, a twice-local MP who lost his seat when he entered the fray after leaving the BJP. .

The BJP has kept Arun Sinha and Sanjiv Chaurasia as candidates for Kumhrar and Digha respectively. Seven constituencies in the Nalanda district, to which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar belongs, also go to the polls in the second phase.

Except for Hilsa, represented by Shakti Singh Yadav of the RJD, and Bihar Sharif, who were retained by two-term MLA Sunil Kumar on a BJP ticket in 2015, the remaining five were won by JD (U).

The segment of the Assembly named after the district is represented by Minister of State Shrawan Kumar, who is seeking re-election of the seat.

The JD (U) has suffered a setback in Rajgir’s reserved seat, where its seated member Ravi Jyoti, a former police inspector, is now scuffling on a congressional ballot.

Two other ministers, Ram Sevak Singh (JDU) and Rana Randhir Singh (BJP), are trying their luck from Hathua and Madhuban in Gopalganj and East Champaran districts, respectively. The ministers are seated like MLA from their respective seats.

Maharajganj has the maximum number of 27 candidates for any constituency, while Darauli (04) has the lowest.

Among the major parties, RJD is contesting 56 of 94 seats, while its ally Congress disputes 24. The CPI and CPM, which recently joined the Grand Alliance, are fighting for four seats each. The CPI (ML), the left-wing team with the largest presence in Bihar, disputes quite a few seats.

BJP candidates are in the fray in 46 of the seats, while another 43 are being contested by those with JD (U) tickets. Mukesh Sahni’s VIP, the last participant in the NDA, is contesting the remaining five.

The LJP is contesting 52 seats, including the two it won in 2015 running as a constituent of the NDA. The party has also presented a transgender candidate at this stage.

The offer by Raju Tiwari and Raj Kumar Sah to retain Govindganj and Lalganj respectively is being questioned by the BJP. According to the Electoral Commission, votes will be cast in a total of 41,362 polling stations.

With contributions from agencies