Jubilee Post News & Views
Jubilee News Desk
Campaigning for first phase has come to an end and with a day left for the first phase polling in Bihar assembly elections top leaders of both the alliances are making a last-ditch effort to seek votes. It will interesting also to see if voters feel comfortable to turn out to exercise their franchise as Coronavirus cases in Bihar continue to rise.
The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), comprising, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United), is up against the opposition ”Mahagathbandhan,” comprising the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress and Left.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi have addressed rallies. Chief Minister and JD (U) president Nitish Kumar is the NDA’s chief ministerial face and is engaged in holding rallies one after the other.
Since the 1990s, politics in Bihar has been dominated by regional political parties, namely the Janata Dal (United), and Rashtriya Janata Dal. There was a huge shift in Bihari politics in the 1980s, with a rise of the OBC castes such as Yadav, Kurmi and Koeri replacing those belonging to the upper castes in politics.
A total of 71 assembly constituencies spread over 16 districts will go to polls in the first phase of elections on October 28. There are 31,000 polling station. As per the Election Commission, in the first phase of elections, the fate of 1,066 candidates will be decided by 2,14,6,960 voters.
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Bihar will vote on October 28, November 3 and 7 for a new government and the results will be announced on November 10. The Bihar Assembly elections will be held in three phases on October 28, November 3 and November 7. The counting of votes will be held on November 10.
Though PM Modi, Nitish Kumar are fighting the Bihar election together, but on posters and ads put out by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the BJP, their alliance is in the small print. This has also become topic of discussion in the election.
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Former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) President Mayawati has appealed to the people of Bihar to vote for BSP and its alliance partners. “Preparations for the first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections began today with the end of the election campaign. Therefore, there is an appeal to everyone that they should make the BSP and RLSP, etc. coalition successful by giving their vote, while staying away from all kinds of tactics and conspiracies of the opponents,” Mayawati tweeted.
In the 2005 election, despite opposition, the new RJD party won the highest number of seats and vote share. The October election saw the tide turn against the RJD, with the Janata Dal (United) coming to power. The JDU won 88 seats compared to the RJD’s 54. However, the RJD still secured a higher vote share (23.45% to 29.46%).
During these elections, for the first time, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also made inroads into Bihar, getting 55 seats, more than the RJD. Nitish Kumar, leader of the JDU, allied with the BJP and with the support of the two largest parties in the legislature is appointed as Chief Minister of Bihar.
Nitish Kumar was able to win the elections by positioning himself strongly against Lalu, advocating for interests of the other backward castes besides the Yadavs and for the forward castes.
