In the first phase of Bihar assembly elections, voting is to be held on 121 seats on 6 November. A close contest is being considered between the ruling NDA and the opposition Grand Alliance on these seats. Even in the last assembly elections i.e. 2020, the contest between the two was very close, when the Grand Alliance had won 61 seats and the NDA had won 59 seats. One seat, Begusarai’s Matihani, had gone to Lok Janshakti Party, but later its MLA Rajkumar Singh joined JDU.
This time there is a new name in the picture, Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraj Party (JSP).has also joinedThis party, which was launched last year on the day of Gandhi Jayanti, has entered the election fray on issues like unemployment, corruption and migration by making ‘school bag’ its election symbol. Political experts believe that Jan Suraj can spoil the equation in some seats, especially in those areas where the public has been dissatisfied with the traditional parties.
According to Naval Kishore Choudhary, former professor and political analyst of Patna University, “This time the competition between the two alliances is close, but Jan Suraj Party can decide the victory or defeat of some candidates.” He said that on which seats JSP will influence against whom, it will be clear from the first list of its candidates, which is to be released on October 9.
There is also discussion in political circles whether Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav will contest elections from two seats this time. He won from Raghopur seat in Vaishali district in 2015 and 2020, but now he is likely to contest from Phulparas (Madhubani) also. Yadav and Muslim voters play a decisive role in Phulparas, whereas last time here JDU’s Sheela Kumari defeated the Congress candidate by about 10 thousand votes.
In the 2020 elections, BJP had won seats like Saharsa, Darbhanga, Begusarai, Patna Sahib, Bankipur, while JDU had won seats like Nalanda, Harnaut, Tarapur, and Vaishali. On the other hand, RJD had won seats like Hathua, Madhepura, Simri-Bakhtiyarpur, Raghopur and Mokama. Congress had performed well in seats like Muzaffarpur and Buxar.
Left parties also made an impact last time where CPI (M-L) won 12 seats, while CPI and CPM got two seats each. Overall, RJD had won 75 seats, BJP 74, JDU 43 and Congress 19 seats.
The upcoming elections will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11. The results will be declared on 14 November. The election atmosphere is now gradually heating up. NDA is seeking votes by portraying the pairing of Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi, while the Grand Alliance is making issues of unemployment, corruption and governance failures. At the same time, new parties like Jan Suraj Party are trying to make a place among the people as a third option.