The second phase of the Bihar assembly election on Tuesday may arguably be the most crucial of the three phases.
Of the 94 assembly segments— more than a third of the 243-strong assembly spread across 17 districts— all of which but Patna, Bhagalpur and Nalanda, are situated north of the Ganges.
All the four assembly segments in the capital city Patna Sahib, Kumhrar, Bankipur and Digha are also going to polls. All these are held by the BJP.
The RJD is contesting 56 of the 94 seats in this phase while its ally Congress is contesting 24. The CPI and CPI(M), which joined the Grand Alliance recently, are fighting four seats each. Quite a few seats are being contested by the CPI(ML), the Left outfit with the strongest presence in Bihar.
BJP candidates are in the fray in 46 of the seats, while another 43 are being contested by those with JD(U) tickets. Mukesh Sahni’s VIP, the latest entrant in the NDA, is contesting the remaining five.
The LJP is contesting 52 seats, including the two it had won in 2015 contesting as an NDA constituent.
According to the Election Commission, votes will be cast at a total of 41,362 polling stations.
High-profile candidates and key seats
Notable among the candidates is the RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, the opposition Grand Alliance’s Chief Ministerial candidate, who has been aggressively trying to cash in on the anti-incumbency factor against the Nitish Kumar government.
The 31-year-old is seeking re-election from Raghopur in Vaishali district which he had wrested back for his party from the BJP’s Satish Kumar in 2015. The BJP leader had defeated Yadav’s mother Rabri Devi, a former chief minister, in 2010.
The BJP has retained its trust in Satish Kumar, hoping that the giant killer will be able to do a repeat of 2010 when, like this time, JD(U) president and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was with the NDA.
The Parsa assembly segment in Saran district is witnessing a fight playing out between the families of two Yadav giants of Bihar politics — Lalu Prasad and Chandrika Roy.
Chandrika Roy’s daughter Aishwarya had married Lalu’s older son Tej Pratap in 2018 but separated within six months. Their dispute is now pending with a Patna family court.
Roy and his family are canvassing against RJD candidate Chhote Lal Rai by telling the people in the constituency about the alleged “ill-treatment” meted out to Aishwarya by Lalu’s family and asking voters to deliver justice .
Tej Pratap Yadav, meanwhile, is trying his luck from Hasanpur in Samastipur district, shifting his base from Mahua in Vaishali.
State minister Nand Kishore Yadav is in the fray trying to retain Patna Sahib for a seventh consecutive term.
Multiple-term MLA Nitin Nabin faces a challenge in Bankipur from Congress candidate Luv Sinha, who is the son of actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, a two-time local MP who lost the seat when he entered the fray after quitting the BJP.
The BJP has retained as its candidates Arun Sinha and Sanjiv Chaurasia for Kumhrar and Digha respectively.
Seven constituencies of Nalanda district, to which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar belongs, also go to polls.
Barring Hilsa, represented by the RJD’s Shakti Singh Yadav, and Bihar Sharif, which two-term MLA Sunil Kumar retained on a BJP ticket in 2015, all the remaining five were won by the JD(U).
The assembly segment named after the district is represented by state minister Shrawan Kumar who is seeking re-election from the seat.
The JD(U) has suffered a setback in the reserved Rajgir seat where its sitting MLA Ravi Jyoti, a former police inspector, is now the fray on a Congress ticket.
Two other ministers Ram Sevak Singh (JDU) and Rana Randhir Singh (BJP) are trying their luck from Hathua and Madhuban in Gopalganj and East Champaran districts respectively. The ministers are sitting MLAs from the respective seats.
The bid of Raju Tiwari and Raj Kumar Sah to retain Govindganj and Lalganj respectively is being challenged by the BJP.
ADR report
All major parties contesting in phase 2 elections have given tickets to 47-64 per cent candidates who have declared criminal cases against themselves, according to a report by poll rights group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
As many as 49 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women and out of 49 candidates, four have declared cases related to rape, it said.
The report said 32 candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section-302) and 143 candidates have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC Section-307).
About 84 (89 per cent) out of 94 seats are “red alert” constituencies, which means three or more contesting candidates in the seat have declared criminal cases against themselves.
According to the report, 36 (64 per cent) out of 56 candidates analysed from the RJD have declared criminal cases against themselves and 28 (50 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
About 29 (63 per cent) out of 46 candidates analysed from the BJP have declared criminal cases against themselves and 20 (44 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits, the report said.
The report said that about 28 (54 per cent) out of 52 candidates analysed from the LJP have declared criminal cases against themselves and 24 (46 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
About 14 (58 per cent) out of 24 candidates analysed from the Congress, 16 (49 per cent) out of 33 candidates analysed from the BSP and 20 (47 per cent) out of 43 candidates analysed from the JD(U) have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
Fourteen (42 per cent) out of 33 candidates analysed from the BSP, 10 (42 per cent) out of 24 candidates analysed from the Congress and 15 (35 per cent) out of 43 candidates analysed from the JD(U) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits, the report said.
The average asset of candidates in the second phase election is Rs 1.72 crore, the report said.
“Out of the 1,463 candidates, 495 (34 per cent) are crorepatis. Among the major parties 39 (85 per cent) out of 46 candidates analysed from BJP, 20 (83 per cent) out of 24 candidates analysed from Congress, 46 (82 per cent) out of 56 candidates analysed from RJD, 35 (81 per cent) out of 43 candidates analysed from JD(U), 38 (73 per cent) out of 52 candidates analysed from LJP and 11 (33 per cent) out of 33 candidates from BSP have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore,” the report said.
“Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 24 Congress candidates analysed is Rs 10.25 crore, 43 JD(U) candidates analysed is Rs 4.95 crore, 56 RJD candidates have average assets of Rs 4.82 crore, 52 LJP candidates have average assets of Rs 3.86 crore, 46 BJP candidates have average assets of Rs 3.44 crore and 33 BSP candidates have average assets worth Rs 1.30 crore. There are three candidates who have declared zero assets while 683 (47 per cent) candidates have declared liabilities in their affidavits,” it said.
(With PTI inputs)