Bihar gears up for phase 1 voting; Heavyweights Samrat Choudhary, Vijay Sinha, Tejashwi Yadav in fray
Bihar gears up for phase 1 voting; The first phase of voting in the Bihar elections will be held on Thursday, where 37.5 million voters will decide the fate of 1,314 candidates. The main contest is between Tejashwi Yadav (Raghopur) and Samrat Chaudhary (Tarapur). Several ministers and prominent leaders are in the fray, including Vijay Kumar Sinha and Mangal Pandey. Mohammad Shahabuddin's son, Osama Shahab, and film star Khesari Lal Yadav are also prominent figures, making the contest triangular in many seats.
Voting for the first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections will take place on Thursday. 37.5 million voters will decide the fate of 1,314 candidates.
The main contest will be between the All India Alliance's Chief Ministerial candidate, Tejashwi Yadav, and BJP's Deputy Chief Minister, Samrat Chaudhary.
Who is Tej Pratap contesting against?
Meanwhile, Tej Pratap Yadav, who has formed his new party, the Janshakti Janata Dal, is in a multi-cornered contest from the Mahua seat. Incumbent RJD MLA Mukesh Roshan is facing a tough fight in this seat. The presence of LJP (Ram Vilas) candidate Sanjay Singh and independent candidate Ashma Parveen makes the contest even more interesting.
Several Ministers in the Field
The fate of several ministers of the Bihar government and both Deputy Chief Ministers will be decided in the first phase. Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha is seeking his fourth consecutive victory in Lakhisarai, where he faces Congress's Amresh Kumar and Jan Suraj Party's Suraj Kumar.
These Veterans Contesting Elections
Meanwhile, Samrat Chaudhary is contesting a direct election from Tarapur after nearly a decade. RJD's Arun Kumar Sah is his main rival, having lost the previous election by a margin of just 5,000 votes. Senior BJP leader and minister Mangal Pandey is contesting assembly elections for the first time. He is contesting from Siwan, where he faces RJD veteran Awadh Bihari Chaudhary, a multiple-time MLA and former Assembly Speaker.
Fate of Mohammad Shahabuddin's son, Osama Shahab, is being decided
The Raghunathpur constituency, where Osama Shahab, son of the late strongman leader Mohammad Shahabuddin, is contesting, is also in the headlines. The NDA has termed his nomination as the "return of jungle raj." BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma even said, "The name Osama reminds people of Osama bin Laden."
What will happen to Maithili Thakur and Khesari Lal Yadav?
Many prominent figures are in the fray in this phase. Folk singer Maithili Thakur (BJP-Aliganj), Bhojpuri star Khesari Lal Yadav (RJD-Chhapra), and Ritesh Pandey (Jan Suraj Party-Kargahar). Nearly a dozen ministers are in the fray, including BJP's Nitin Naveen (Bankipur), Sanjay Sarawagi (Darbhanga), Jibesh Kumar (Jale), and Kedar Prasad Gupta (Kurhani). The fate of JDU's Shravan Kumar (Nalanda) and Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (Sarairanjan) will also be decided in this phase.
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One of the most talked-about contests is the Mokama seat, where jailed JDU MLA Anant Singh is pitted against RJD's Veena Devi, wife of strongman Suraj Bhan. According to the Election Commission, voting will take place in 121 seats in the first phase. Of these, Patna's Digha seat has the highest number of voters at 4.58 lakh, while Barbigha (Sheikhpura) has the lowest number of voters at 2.32 lakh. Kurhani and Muzaffarpur have the highest number of candidates at 20 each, while Bhor, Alauli, and Parbatta have the lowest number of candidates at 5 each.
What is the voter turnout?
A total of 45,341 polling stations have been set up, of which 36,733 are in rural areas. This phase includes 10.72 lakh new voters and 7.38 lakh voters in the 18-19 age group. The total population of these 121 seats is approximately 6.60 crore, while the voter list has 3.75 crore names. The total number of voters across the state is 7.24 crore, which is approximately 60 lakh less than before the special revision.
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