First Phase of Bihar Polls on, Biggies Undergo Litmus Test

The first phase of the Bihar elections is underway. 49 constituencies from 10 districts in Bihar will vote today.

As soon as the official canvassing came to an end on Saturday evening for the first phase of Bihar elections, candidates began to use word-of-mouth publicity and other tried and tested tactics to lure voters.

Voting will take place in 49 constituencies across 10 districts in the state where around 1.35 crore voters will decide the fate of 583 candidates. Polls in some districts, which have been recognised as ‘Naxal affected’ will go on till 3 pm only. Banka, Jamui, parts of Nawada and Munger are areas which see massive Naxal activity.

The first phase of elections will be a litmus test for both the NDA and the Grand Alliance as well their planners and think tanks. These polls will give a clear indication of the likely outcome of the elections as well as the political mood in the state. Development is the prime agenda but caste is still the biggest factor in most seats that are being contested.

Some sensitive districts, which are said to be prone to crime are Samastipur, Begusarai, Khagaria, Bhagalpur, Banka, Munger, Lakhisarai, Shekhpura, Nawada and Jamui. These areas have seen extra deployment of central forces for added security.

The NDA claims that it has the winning edge if one were to rely on caste factors, but really, the leadership war is only between Nitish and Modi.

The Stake of Heavyweights

Congress will also find it hard to save the Kahalgaon seat in Bhagalpur from where senior leader Sadanand Singh will contest once again. The Congress candidate will face stiff opposition from NDA candidate Neeraj Mangal, who belongs to the LJP. Insiders on both sides, however, say that the BJP will have the advantage as a result of its alliance with the LJP.

The allies of the NDA have more at stake in the first phase. The BJP has no big name contesting in this phase. The LJP’s state president Pashupati Kumar Paras, State president of Manjhi’s HAM Shakuni Chowdhary, JD(U)’s senior leader Vijay Chowdhary, Sri Narayan Yadav from RJD, Alok Mehta from RJD, RN Singh of JDU, Gopal Mandal from JDU, Kaushal Yadav of JDU and BJP’s Anil Singh will have to muscle their way through the first phase.

BJP heavyweights Renu Kushwaha and Prem Ranjan Patel, Ram Dev Rai of the Congress and CPI(M)’s Ram Dev Verma will also have to fight a determined battle for their respective seats.

Seats like Tegra, Bachaura, and Bakhri, all from Begusarai will see Ram Ratan, Awdhesh Kumar Rai, Surya Kant Paswan contesting, all three from the CPI. All these seats may finally go to the red brigade.

However, the two hot seats, Chakai and Jamui, are being contested by NDA allies LJP and HAM respectively. The Chakai seat was rested for a long time by the LJP and announcements were made only after Chirag Paswan held a mammoth meeting with senior party cadre. Ticket announcements by the LJP involved high voltage drama and this will now be Chirag’s trial by fire, since he was also head of the party’s ticket distribution cell.

Similarly, Jamui went to HAM, from where Narendra Singh’s son Ajay Singh had been fielded. His second son Sumit is contesting from Chakai as an independent candidate. LJP, in return, has also fielded indirectly Anil Singh, an independent candidate from Jamui. He is said to be close to Paswan.

Towards the end, Jamui became a close battle between Narendra Singh and Chirag Paswan.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address two rallies on the same day, at Bhabhua and Jehanabad. The opposition protested strongly and demanded that rallies on election day be disallowed, claiming that it violated the prescribed code of conduct. The Bhabhua rally, which had not been approved by the district magistrate because of security concerns, was approved later, albeit with certain conditions.