Bihar Prime Minister Nitish Kumar created a stir today when he said: “This is my last election”, while addressing an election rally in Purnia.
The sudden news came at a time when the prime minister was campaigning for the last time before the third and final phase of the Bihar Assembly elections for a candidate from his Janata Dal United in Purnia.
“Jan leje aaj chunav ka aakhri din hai aur parson chunav hai aur ye mere antim chunav hai. Ant bhala, to sab bhalla (know that today is the last election day and the next day is the election. And this is my last election . If the ending is good, everything is good, “Nitish Kumar said at a rally, the ANI news agency published a video.
The 69-year-old leader has ruled the state for nearly 15 years and served as a union minister on several occasions.
Nitish Kumar, who is seeking a fourth consecutive term in office, urged voters to vote the NDA for power once again.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a four-page letter to the people of Bihar, said: “Reforms are not possible amid mismanagement and anarchy; Nitish Kumar’s government in Bihar is needed to ensure that development plans continue without interruption. “
The letter arrived minutes before the campaign for the final phase of voting ended today.
The chief minister reached out to the minority community in demonstrations on Wednesday to remind people that his government had increased the salaries of teachers in madrasas and tried to allay apprehensions about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
In a region that saw widespread protests against CAA, Kumar said he had worked to spread love, peace and brotherhood and that no one had the strength to “send anyone out of the country.”
Leading from the front, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed rallies in remote districts of Araria and Saharsa for this phase of the elections, urging the masses to maintain their confidence in the NDA.
He claimed that the state-led coalition by JD (U) Prime Minister and Chairman Nitish Kumar was eager to meet people’s “aspirations” in the following decade, having met their “needs” in the previous one.
The third phase of the survey for 78 seats in Bihar will be carried out on November 7, mainly in the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal areas in northeast Bihar.
On Tuesday, the 94 assembly constituencies that went to vote in phase two of the Bihar elections registered 53.51% turnout and the figure is likely to rise as voting continued beyond schedule in several places, the Electoral Commission said.
The combined voter turnout in the two phases stood at 53.79% as of 5 pm, the Commission said.
With contributions from the agency
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