94 seats up for grabs in Phase II of Bihar polls
PATNA — Voting in 94 of the total 243 Assembly seats in Bihar will be held today during the second phase of state elections in which over 28.50 million voters will decide the fate of 1,463 candidates in fray.
As many as 41,362 polling stations have been set up across 17 districts, all of which except Patna, Bhagalpur, and Nalanda are situated north of the Ganges.
Maharajganj seat has a maximum of 27 candidates in the electoral battle and Daraula with only four in the second round of Assembly polls.
Prominent contestants in the fray include Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and Grand Alliance’s chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav, who is recontesting the Raghopur seat, and his brother Tej Pratap at Hassanpur in Samastipur district.
Other prominent faces in the fray in the second phase are RJD leaders Alok Kumar Mehta from Ujiyarpur and Shailesh Kumar from Bihpur, former parliamentarian Anand Mohan’s son Chetan Anand from Sheohar, former parliamentarian Rama Singh’s wife Beena Singh from Mahnar, and Congress leader Shatrughan Sinha’s son Luv from Bankipur.
Plurals Party leader Pushpam Priya Choudhary is also in the fray in Bankipur, apart from BJP’s Nitin Naveen.
Ministers Nandkishore Yadav, Randhir Singh, and Shravan Kumar are also in the fray from Patna Sahib, Madhuban and Nalanda segments. The prestige of 27 MLAs of the Grand Alliance is at stake.
The RJD has fielded 56 candidates in the second phase of elections, wherein it is in direct contest with the BJP on 27 seats and with the ally turned foe JD-U on 25 seats.
The BJP is contesting 46 seats and the JD-U 43 seats.
The Congress is contesting 24 seats, CPI and CPM four each, Lok Janshakti Party 52 and RLSP 36 seats. —