Campaigning ended for the second and last phase of the Bihar Assembly elections on Sunday, two days before 122 of the 243 seats in the state — covering parts of Mithila, Kosi belt, western Bihar, Magadh, Angika and Seemanchal regions — go to the polls.
The first phase of the Assembly elections on November 6, in which voting for 121 seats took place, saw a record turnout of 64.66 per cent. As Seemanchal has shown a trend of higher voting in the past, all eyes will be on whether the final phase also sees a record turnout. Counting of votes will take place on November 14.
The state’s overall turnout in the 2020 Assembly elections was 57.29 per cent; it was 57.28 per cent in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
As the NDA looks to continue to helm the state, the RJD and Congress are hoping to break JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar’s almost 20-year-run as Bihar’s Chief Minister.
While the RJD in alliance with the JD(U) won the 2015 Bihar elections, the alliance broke soon after. Now, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, supported by the Congress, is fighting to break the RJD’s electoral jinx.
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For Nitish, this may be his last electoral battle, one which he hopes to win and become the Chief Minister again.
For the BJP, after the dip in performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Bihar holds high stakes. If the BJP emerges as the single largest party in a big state like Bihar, it will help the party maintain its growing primacy in the state and the Centre.
On Sunday, as they addressed back-to-back rallies in the last leg of their campaign, both the ruling and Opposition leaders reiterated their claims and counter-claims. While Congress leader Rahul Gandhi brought up his “vote chori” allegation, Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused the INDIA bloc of trying to build a “corridor for infiltrators”. Tejashwi, who turned 36 on Sunday, repeated his poll promises, and promised to deliver in “20 months”.
Addressing rallies in Sasaram and Arwal towns, Shah said: “Recently, Rahul and Lalu’s son (Tejashwi) took out a ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’. It was not aimed at bringing about any improvement in the lives of the poor living in Bihar, the Dalits and the EBCs. It was aimed at protecting infiltrators… The Opposition’s vote bank politics has led them to make attempts to build a ghuspaithiya (infiltrator) corridor, unlike Narendra Modi, who is setting up an industrial corridor,” he said.
“When the government at the Centre was helmed by Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Lalu, terrorists struck at will on our soil. In contrast, now we are beating up the terrorists inside their homes,” Shah said. “In future, if terrorists from Pakistan dare to carry out an attack again, bullets fired by them will be retaliated with mortar shells. Do you know where these mortar shells will be manufactured? In Bihar, in Sasaram, as Modi is trying to build a defence corridor here,” he said.
The BJP leader also targeted the Congress and the RJD for “having tried to stall” the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya. “Today, with Modi in power, a sky-high temple has been built at the spot,” Shah said.
Predicting a wipeout for the Opposition in the first phase itself, Shah said: “You must remember that the Opposition may have come in a new garb, but their poll symbols remain the same lantern and ‘panjaa’ (hand), and so does their character.”
Addressing a rally in Kishanganj, Gandhi said the INDIA bloc would form the next government in Bihar if the people came together and stopped ‘vote chori’. “Modi, Shah and the Election Commission have no replies to our ‘vote chori’ (vote theft) allegations, as the truth is now out in front of people… The PM, Shah… can go anywhere they like, but they will eventually be caught for indulging in ‘vote chori’,” he claimed.
“I recently exposed ‘vote chori’ on a big scale in Haryana… Till date, neither Modi nor (Chief Election Commissioner) Gyanesh Kumar have had the courage to stand up and say ‘Rahul Gandhi is telling a lie’,” he said.
“In Bihar, I can say with certainty that the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (INDIA bloc) is going to form the next government. There is a cent per cent chance. But you must prevent the BJP from vote theft. Be on guard at polling stations on the day when votes will be cast. It is now the duty of every youngster, labourer and farmer to thwart vote theft in Bihar,” the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha said.
Speaking in Seemanchal region of Bihar, which has a substantial population of Muslims, Gandhi said the BJP and RSS have been pursuing a “divisive agenda”, with the objective of “deflecting attention from vote theft”. “Modi and Shah are scared of the people’s voice. They have betrayed the soul of India. They are bound to be caught,” he said.
He also blamed the economic policies of the Centre and state for the “dismal” state of employment generation in the state.
In Ramgarh, Tejashwi said: “See how the Prime Minister, union ministers, Bihar CM and his ministers, the ED, CBI, Income Tax Department as well as the Election Commission (EC) have come together in a bid to stop someone in his 37th year”.
Calling on people to throw out the Nitish government, Tejashwi referred to his promise of one government job per family. “What they could not do in 20 years, Tejashwi will do in 20 months. We will also raise the social security pension to Rs 1,500 and give free electricity to farmers for agriculture. Under the proposed Maai Bahan Maan scheme, we will give Rs 30,000 in one go,” he said.
With PTI inputs