On the 7th of November, the third phase of the Bihar Assembly elections began.
In the third phase, voting for the remaining 78 Assembly constituencies are being conducted.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD,) is leaving no stone unturned to win the elections against the Nitish Kumar led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government.
In addition, recently, Nitish Kumar announced 2020 Assembly elections to be his last election.
Mr. Kumar on the 5th of November said, “Today is the last day of campaigning and day after tomorrow is the election. This is my last election…aant bhala to sab bhala.”
This is the first election conducted amid the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19. Recently, on the 28th of October and the 3rd of November, the first phase and the second phase of the Bihar Assembly elections for 71 constituencies and 96 constituencies were conducted.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged voters to follow the guidelines of COVID-19 and maintain social distance while voting. He took to Twitter and said, “बिहार विधानसभा चुनावों में आज तीसरे और आखिरी चरण का मतदान है। सभी मतदाताओं से मेरी विनती है कि वे अधिक से अधिक संख्या में लोकतंत्र के इस पावन पर्व में भागीदार बनें और वोटिंग का नया रिकॉर्ड बनाएं। और हां, मास्क पहनने और सोशल डिस्टेंसिंग का ध्यान भी अवश्य रखें।”
The voting began at 7:00 A.M., and would continue till 6:00 P.M.
Nineteen districts including Seemanchal (Kishanganj, Araria, Katihar and Purnia), Kosi (Supaul, Saharsa and Madhepura), Mithila (Darbhanga and Madhubani) and Tirhut (Muzaffarpur and Sitamarhi) regions comprise the seats going for polls in the final phase.
Nearly 2.34 crore voters would decide the fate of 1,204 candidates.
Till 9:00 A.M., 7.69 % of voter turnout was recorded in Bihar Assembly elections.
In the past two phases of elections, the State witnessed 55.69 % polling in the first phase of elections and 53.51 % in the second phase.
The major parties contesting the elections are the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) including right wing parties like the Janata Dal (United,) the Vikassheel Insaan Party, the BJP, the Hindustani Awam Morcha and the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) which has the Indian National Congress (INC,) the RJD, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and others.
In the third phase of the Bihar Assembly Elections, the JD(U) congested 37 seats, the BJP 35, the Vikassheel Insaan Party 5 and the Hindustani Awami Morcha 1.
In the grand alliance party, the RJD contented for 46 seats, the INC for 25 seats and the CPI(ML) for 5 seats
Meanwhile in other parties, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) contested for 42 and the All India Majlis e Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) for 14 seats.
Of the 243 total seats, In the NDA, the Janata Dal (United) JD(U) is contesting 115 seats, the BJP 110 seats, Vikassheel Insaan Party 11 seats and Hindustani Awam Morcha seven seats of the total 243 seats in the state.
Meanwhile, in the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance,) the RJD is contesting 144 seats, the Indian National Congress (INC) 70, the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) CPI-ML 19, CPI six and CPI-M four.
The Bihar election is being conducted in three phases.
With today’s final polling, the Bihar Assembly elections 2020 would end.
The results would be declared on the 10th of November.
Stay tuned for further updates.
