Patna: The poll site for the Bihar Assembly has finally been decided. In all, 2,616 candidates are running in 243 seats located in 38 districts. 7.42 crore voters who made it through the Election Commission’s (EC) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral records will decide their fate.
Following the deadline for candidates to withdraw from the second phase of the elections on Thursday, the final numbers were released. Despite 1,761 nomination papers being filed, 389 were rejected during the review process, and 70 chose to withdraw. As a result, 1,302 candidates remain in the race over 122 constituencies, with elections scheduled for November 11.
BJP MLA Rashmi Varma and former Congress MLA Vinay Varma from Narkatiaganj, former BJP MLA Prakash Rai from Chanpatia, and rebel BJP candidate Manoj Chaudhary from Madhubani were among the well-known candidates that pulled out of the race.
Additionally, Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) candidate Bindu Gulab Yadav from Babubarhi constituency and Congress candidates Satish Kumar Mantan from Warisaliganj and Taukir Alam from Pranpur seats retracted their bids.
The leaders of the BJP, Congress, and VIP noted that the candidates’ withdrawal coincided with the deal reached with the allies over seat sharing.
121 seats will be up for election on November 6th, with a total of 1,314 candidates running in the first phase.
Gaya Town, Sasaram (Rohtas district), and Chainpur (Kaimur district) have the most candidates out of all 243 constituencies. There are 22 competitors in each of them.
Similarly, eight seats boast the fewest number of candidates: Lauriya and Chanpatia in West Champaran, Raxaul and Sugauli in East Champaran, Triveniganj in Supaul, Banmankhi in Purnea, Bhorey in Gopalganj, and Parbatta in Khagaria district. On each of them, there are just five contenders.
A friendly battle amongst the INDIA bloc candidates for nine Assembly seats looms huge notwithstanding the withdrawal of nomination.
While Congress and Communist Party of India (CPI) candidates are competing against one another in Bachhwara, Biharsharif, Kargahar, and Rajapakar seats, RJD and Congress candidates are facing off in Narkatiaganj, Kahalgaon, Sultanganj, Vaishali, and Sikandra constituencies. Naturally, they will also face off against Jan Suraaj Party candidates and those of the ruling NDA.
Notably, a few of the candidates whose nominations were turned down made obvious errors or left out important details in their nomination documents.
Since Shweta Suman, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate from the Mohania constituency, was discovered to be an Uttar Pradesh native, her nomination papers were denied. The Scheduled Castes (SC) have a reserved seat in Mohania, and candidates from other states are not allowed to run for these seats.
This was the second significant setback for Mahagathbandhan, also known as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
Shashi Bhushan Singh, the current RJD MLA from the Sugauli constituency, had previously had his nomination papers rejected because he had submitted them as a VIP candidate. The party is not a registered regional party, nevertheless, and Singh only submitted one proposer, although regional parties typically require ten.
Lakshman Paswan of the Communist Party of India (CPI) from Rosera and Seema Singh of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) from the Marhaura constituency were two notable candidates whose nomination papers were turned down in the first round.
Similarly, Dharmendra Krantikari, the Janshakti Janata Dal candidate for the Gopalganj seat, had his nomination papers rejected because he neglected to include in his filed affidavit the reason he was imprisoned.
In the meantime, as part of the EC’s efforts to guarantee free and fair elections, a number of law enforcement agencies, including the police, paramilitary, excise, income tax, Narcotics Control Bureau, and customs, have confiscated assets and items valued at Rs 79.86 crore around the state. These included 437 weapons, Rs 18.36 crore in freebies, Rs 19.42 crore in drugs, Rs 5.51 crore in precious metals, Rs 6.72 crore in cash, Rs 29.84 crore in booze and Rs 19.42 crore in tobacco.
