Bihar Assembly elections Phase 2: Polling begins
The second and last phase of the Bihar Assembly polls commenced today, where 3.7 crore voters will decide the fate of 1,302 candidates across 122 constituencies.
As per the Election Commission of India (ECI), polling in Bihar is taking place across 45,399 polling stations, 5,326 located in urban areas and 40,073 in rural regions. Over half of the state’s voters, around 2.28 crore, fall within the 30–60 age group, while just 7.69 lakh are first-time voters aged 18–19. In the 122 constituencies going to the polls, there are 1.75 crore women voters.
This final phase covers Assembly constituencies in the Magadh, Mithilanchal, Seemanchal, Shahabad, and Tirhut regions. Of these 122 seats, 101 are general, 19 are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC), and two for Scheduled Tribes (ST).
In the first phase of polling, held on November 6 across 121 constituencies in 18 districts, Bihar recorded its highest-ever voter turnout, 64.66%.
Prominent candidates in the second phase include Bijendra Prasad Yadav, a senior JD(U) leader and the longest-serving member of the State Cabinet, and BJP’s Prem Kumar, another cabinet minister, contesting from Gaya Town, a seat he has won consecutively seven times since 1990.
Other ministers whose electoral fortunes are at stake include BJP’s Renu Devi (Bettiah) and Neeraj Kumar Singh ‘Bablu’ (Chhatapur), along with JD(U)’s Leshi Singh (Dhamdaha), Sheela Mandal (Phulparas), and Zama Khan (Chainpur).
In Katihar district, CPI(ML) Liberation’s Mehboob Alam (Balrampur) and Congress’s Shakeel Ahmed Khan (Kadwa) are both aiming for a third consecutive victory. AIMIM state president and sitting MLA Akhtarul Iman is contesting again from Amour. This phase is also viewed as a crucial test for AIMIM, which had won five seats in the Seemanchal region in the previous election.
The second and final phase is equally significant for smaller NDA allies, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), led by Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM), both contesting six seats each. All six HAM seats are going to polls in this phase.
The RLM, a relatively new outfit with no current representation in the State Assembly, has fielded Kushwaha’s wife, Snehlata, from Sasaram and his close associate Madhaw Anand from Madhubani, both making their electoral debut.
