PATNA : The hustle and bustle of campaigning for the second phase of poll in 32 assembly seats in Bihar ended this evening with the sting video of a senior minister in the Nitish Kumar government providing the BJP-led NDA with fresh ammunition to attack the grand secular alliance on corruption.
The 32 seats are spread across six naxal-hit districts– Jehanabad, Arwal, Gaya, Rohtas, Kaimur and Aurangabad.
The Election Commission has cut short the time for voting by one to two hours in as many as 23 constituencies that would go to poll on October 16, depending upon its perception of the threat from outlawed naxalite groups.
Only 9 out of a total of 32 seats would see voting from 7 AM to 5 PM. 12 Constituencies would witness voting till 4 PM, while 11 others would have balloting only till 3 PM, Additional Chief Electoral Officer R Lakshamanan said.
The sting video of JD(U) minister Awadhesh Prasad Kushwaha gave additional ammunition to the NDA for launching a spirited assault on the JD(U)-RJD-Congress combine during the electioneering for the second phase of the 5-phase polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi prominently raised the issue at his rallies in Jehanabad and Bhubua on October 12, a day after the damning video surfaced on the 113th birth anniversary of socialist icon Jayaprakash Narayan.
He attacked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, products of JP’s ‘Total Revolution’ movement, for “insulting” their leader, who fought against corrruption, on his birth anniversary.
BJP chief Amit Shah and Home Minister Rajnath Singh extensively toured the constituencies. LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan, RSLP leader Upendra Kushwaha and Hindustani Awam Morcha’s Jitan Ram Manjhi, other three allies of BJP, too held a number of election meetings.
The Grand Alliance’s campaign was led by Nitish Kumar and Lalu. Neither Congress president Sonia Gandhi nor her deputy Rahul Gandhi made any appearance for this phase of poll.
On the last day of electioneering, Nitish and Lalu attacked Narendra Modi for his “delayed” reaction to the Dadri lynching incident. Modi, in an interview to Bengali daily Ananda Bazar Patrika, had termed as “unfortunate” the Dadri episode following rumours of beef consumption.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav toured some constituencies bordering UP and slammed Nitish Kumar in particular.
Their arch rival in UP politics and BSP chief Mayawati also canvassed support for her party’s nominee in Sasaram bordering her state.
A battle royale is being witnessed for Imamganj seat where former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi of HAM is locked in a straight contest with the Speaker of the outgoing assembly Uday Narain Chaudhary of JD(U). Chaudhary is a five-term MLA from the seat. Manjhi is also trying his luck from Makhdumpur.
Senior BJP leader and former minister Prem Kumar (Gaya town), former state unit chief of the saffron party Gopal Narayan Singh (Nabinagar) and state minister Jay Kumar Singh (Dinara) are among those whose fate would be decided in this phase.
Stakes are high for the anti-BJP alliance in this phase as most of the 32 seats had gone to JD(U) in the last elections.
In 2010, JD(U) had won 19 seats followed by BJP 10, RJD 2 and Independent 1.
This time JD(U) and RJD are contesting 13 seats each, while Congress has its candidates in the remaining six.
From NDA, half of the seats in this phase are being contested by nominees of BJP’s allies—LJP, HAM and RLSP.
While HAM is contesting 7 seats, including two from where Jitan Ram Manjhi is in the fray, RLSP of Union Minister of State for HRD Upendra Kushwaha has fielded candidates in six constituencies, and LJP three. BJP has put up candidates in the rest 16 seats.
A total of 85,86,704 electors are eligible to vote to decide the fate of 458 candidates, 32 of them women.
Out of the 32 seats, 7 are reserved for Scheduled Castes where the popularity of Ramvilas Paswan and Manjhi would be tested.
Central paramilitary forces will be stationed at all 8849 polling stations. (PTI)
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