Rama Krishna Sangem
Bihar assembly election will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11 while the results will be declared on 14th, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar announced on October 6, Monday. Gyanesh Kumar said that over 7.4 crore people are eligible to vote in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections including 14 lakh first-time voters.
Concurrently, by-elections will be held in eight assembly constituencies across Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Telangana, Punjab, Mizoram, and Odisha, with polling on November 11 and counting on November 14. Jubilee Hills assembly seat by-election will be held on November 11, thus setting a test for the less than two year old Revanth Reddy led Congress government in Telangana. This by-poll is needed by the death of BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath.
Nitish, Tejashwi & PK game in Bihar
Till now there are only two big players – Chief Minister and JDU leader Nitish Kumar and his main opponent RJD’s Tejahswi Yadav. If Nitish is backed by BJP’s NDA, Tejaswi is in the Congress headed INDIA. In between came pollster- turned politician Prashant Kishor. Kishor’s newly formed Jan Suraj party is now an X factor, meaning an unknown force till now. Some pre-poll surveys say, Tejaswi is leading in most of the rural belt, while Nitish is strong in urban segments.
PK as Prashant is called, is expected to get around 10-15 per cent votes, thus putting a question mark over the fate of both Nitish and Tejashwi. The campaign in Bihar is actively led by PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Earlier Nitish was in NDA, but changed sides
In 2020 election, Nitish Kumar continued his alliance with the NDA getting a majority in Legislative Assembly by winning 1225 seats. In August 2022, Nitish Kumar broke the alliance with the BJP and resigned as Chief Minister and formed the government with the RJD-Congress-led Mahagathbandhan. He also became a key figure in the formation of the combined opposition-the INDIA bloc. However, Kumar’s romance with the RJD lasted just short of two years and in January 2024, ahead of the Parliamentary polls Kumar walked back to the NDA.
This time Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United and the BJP lead an NDA alliance which also has Chirag Paswan’s Lok Jan Shakti Party (Ram Vilas), Jitin Manjhi’s Hindustan Awami Morcha and the Upendra Khushwaha led Rashtriya Lok Shakti Party (RLSP) as its constituents.
Now in the upcoming elections, the NDA will be up against the INDIA bloc of the Tejashwi Yadav led RJD, the Congress, the Deepankar Bhattacharya led CPI (ML), CPI, CPM and Mukesh Sahani’s Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP). This time Bihar will also see the entry of a new player in the form of Prashant Kishor and his party Jan Suraaj.