Voting will be held in 55 seats tomorrow in the penultimate phase of the Bihar election, with the stakes high for the BJP as it had along with its then ally JD(U) bagged the majority of seats in the last Assembly polls.
BJP had won 26 out of 55 seats spread across seven districts of Muzaffarpur, East Champaran, West Champaran, Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Gopalganj and Siwan in the 2010 Assembly polls. Its then ally JD(U) had emerged victorious in 24. RJD had won 2 seats and Independents 3.
But the scenario has changed this time. From the grand secular alliance camp, RJD has now fielded candidates in 26 constituencies, followed by the JD(U) in 21 and Congress in 8.
From the NDA on the other hand, BJP has fielded its nominees in 42 seats in this phase, LJP in five, and the Hindustanti Awam Morcha and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) in four seats each.
An electorate of 1,46,93,294 will be able to cast their vote in 14,139 polling stations on November 1 to elect their representatives from 776 candidates, of which 57 are women.
On the basis of the assessment of the security situation, polling will be held from 7 am to 5 pm in 43 constituencies, while it will be shortened by one hour in eight seats and voting would end at 3 pm in four seats, Additional Chief Electoral Officer R Lakshamanan said.
He put the number of polling stations in LWE (Left Wing Extremist) affected areas at 3,043.
Altogether 1,163 companies (each comprising 100 personnel) of Central Paramilitary Force and state police will be posted to ensure free and fair elections.
A total of 38 motor boats would be pressed into service for riverine patrolling tomorrow.
Balloting has already been completed in 131 seats in the earlier three rounds. After completion of the fourth phase, voting would be completed in 186 seats. The last phase of polling is scheduled for November 5 in the remaining 57 seats.
Counting of votes is on November 8.
The fourth phase saw high voltage campaigning with both the BJP-led NDA and the JD (U)-RJD-Congress alliance accusing each other of trying to polarise voters on communal lines.
“If BJP loses the Bihar elections even by chance, though victory or defeat will happen in Patna, there will be bursting of firecrackers in Pakistan,” BJP chief Amit Shah had said at a rally at Raxual in East Champaran district on Thursday, three days before the fourth phase polling.
Rivals JD (U), Congress and RJD saw the comment as an attempt to communalise voters for the next two rounds in 112 seats and approached the Election Commission.
Acting on the complaint, the state Election Office has sought a report from the District Magistrate of East Champaran and West Champaran on the remark.