Approximately 2.34 million voters, spread across 78 segments of the 243-member Assembly assembly, will decide the fate of 1,204 candidates, including the president and 12 members of the state cabinet. As in the previous two phases, Chirag Paswan’s LJP is also in the fray in several seats this time, threatening to play killjoy for the NDA, especially the JD (U) with its repeated pleas that “every vote cast to favor of the Chief Ministers Party will be a loss for the future of Bihars. ” While the NDA seemed secure until a few months ago, polling experts have begun to predict “winds of change” and the ruling coalition appears to have taken note that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Nitish Kumar have called on the voters.
Many of the 78 ballot-linked assembly segments spread across 19 districts are in the Kosi-Seemanchal region, where the contest between the NDA and the Grand Alliance will take place under the shadow of the Owaisi factor, as the AIMIM has run candidates in many of the Muslim-dominated seats here and the Hyderabad MP also carried out a frenzied campaign. The Kosi-Seemanchal region is also the main area of influence for dissident former MP Pappu Yadav, whose Jan Adhikar Party is determined to make his presence felt and prove a point to the RJD, as both draw their support from the more populated community. of the state. the Yadavs.
Modi, who attended 12 demonstrations during the campaign, came out with an open letter addressed to the people of the state on Thursday saying that he “needed” Nitish Kumar in the state for Bihar’s development to continue unhindered. Kumar, for his part, astonished everyone by closing his last electoral meeting in the district of Purnea with the comment “this is my last election. And what ends well is fine.”
First state elections since the pandemic
Held during the coronavirus pandemic, the Election Commission’s guidelines on social distancing and wearing face masks were practiced primarily in the gap, as large crowds turned out to hear from leaders of various political parties across the state, including when the survey watchdog put in place an elaborate mechanism to adhere to the Covid-19 security protocol inside the voting booths.
For being indifferent to concerns about the disease as they continued their daily routine, many people cited official data placing Bihar among the states least affected by the pandemic, which has severely affected normal life in many parts of the country.
Government figures said on Friday that the state, India’s third-largest by population, had only 6,356 active cases. Despite being one of the poorest states in the country, official figures show that it has a better recovery rate than the national average for COVID-19. “Why should we fear Corona when we barely see the impact of the virus around us?” It’s the most common refrain statewide when people are asked why they don’t wear face masks or maintain physical detachment. However, several other theories, not supported by experts, including that the new coronavirus does not affect people hardened by physical work, also have some stakeholders. Several leaders, including Senior Deputy Minister Sushil Modi and BJP Poll Manager Devendra Fadnavis, contracted the virus during the election campaign.
However, it has had little impact on most people as they enthusiastically participated in the voting exercise without following the COVID-19 guidelines. Officials said that any rigor in the application of the health guidelines could have been counterproductive and could have ended up holding back the participation of the people in the gigantic electoral exercise, the first since the outbreak of the pandemic. The percentage of votes in the first two phases of the elections has belied any concern about the lack of popular participation, with 55.69% and 55.70% of the polls registered, respectively.
Key fighters
The Chief Minister, who seems to be bearing the brunt of the perceived anti-incumbency with public anger apparently directed not so much against the BJP, his alliance partner, caught his JD (U) rank and file off guard. His former associate and chairman of the state unit, Vashishtha Narayan Singh, has insisted that the chief minister was not in the fray, as he had been a member of the legislative council since he held the highest office in the state, and must have wanted say it. it was the “last rally he addressed for the current elections.”
The RJD, once deemed invincible, leaves no stone unturned to return, excited by its lead candidate’s response to Minister Tejashwi Yadav. All 31 years, he has been receiving. The party has forged a rainbow coalition that comprises its longtime ally, Congress, in addition to the parties of the left, though none of them have been a force to be reckoned with in the state since the rise of “Mandal” and “Mandir.” . Prominent candidates include Vijay Kumar Chaudhary of JD (U), outgoing chairman of the assembly, famous for his ability to win over hostile opponents with a captivating smile, looking to make a hat-trick in Sarairanjan.
Those of Fray in the final phase
The JD (U) ministers in the fray are Bijendra Prasad Yadav (Supaul), Narendra Narayan Yadav (Alamnagar), Maheshwar Hazari (Kalyanpur), Ramesh Rishideo (Singheshwar), Khurshid alias Firoz Ahmed (Sikta), Lakshmeshwar), Lakshmeshwar) Laukaka) Bharti (Rupauli) and Madan Sahni (Bahadurpur). Four ministers are in the fray of BJP Pramod Kumar (Motihari), Suresh Sharma (Muzaffarpur), Binod Narayan Jha (Benipatti) and Krishnakumar Rishi (Banmankhi).
In addition, the wife and daughter-in-law, respectively, of the recently deceased ministers Vinod Kumar Singh (BJP) and Kapil Deo Kamat (JDU), respectively, are in the fray for the respective seats of the deceased legislators, Pranpur and Babubarhi. Another widely watched candidate is Subhashini Yadav of Bihariganj, whose father, veteran socialist leader and former Union Minister Sharad Yadav, had been a multi-term MP from Madhepura, which includes the assembly segment.
She is competing for an entrance to Congress. Saturday will be the last leg of voting at the current polls in Bihar, where elections are taking place amid the raging COVID pandemic.
The vote count is scheduled for November 10.
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