The high voltage election campaign for the first phase of polls in Bihar came to an end on Monday
Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, October 26
The high voltage election campaign for the first phase of polls in Bihar came to an end on Monday as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar raked up controversy in the last minutes by making a personal comment on RJD Chief Lalu Prasad.
“Lalu and Rabri are the leaders who have 8-9 children including seven daughters,” Kumar said while addressing a rally at Mahuva in Vaishali district from where elder son of Lalu Prasad Tejpratap Yadav was elected to the state assembly in 2015. But, they have no faith in daughters and promoted sons only, he said.
The campaign for the first phase of assembly election in 71 constituencies in Bihar came to an end on Monday. The constituencies across the six districts would go to the polls in the first phase of elections on October 28.
In assembly elections, none of the seven daughters of Lalu-Rabri is visible in the campaign. Misa Bharti, MP and eldest daughter was active in 2019 Lok Sabha elections and 2015 assembly elections. Now, the entire show has been hijacked by the youngest son-Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, who has been projected as CM candidate against incumbent Nitish Kumar.
Nitish also attacked Lalu family for “betraying” veteran leader and RJD vice-president, Raghuwansh Prasad Singh also at the last stage of his hospital days.
Elections for 71 constituencies spread in 16 districts, mostly in the once Maloists affected central Bihar will be held on Wednesday. There are 1066 candidates in the fray. This is the first mass election exercise during the Corona period in Asia.
In the 2015 assembly elections, RJD had captured 27, JDU had won 18, BJP 13, CPI (ML) and HAM(S) one each.
Those in the fray on Wednesday are former chief minister, and HAM(S president Jeetan Ram Manjhi who faces former speaker and RJD candidate, Uday Narain Chaudhry in Imamganj, Commonwealth gold medalist Shreyanshi Singh and her rival sitting RJD MLA Vijay Prakash, Anant Singh, a jailed Don Anant Singh as RJD candidate against Rajiv Lochan of the Congress. Eight cabinet colleagues of Niitish Kumar are also facing elections once again.
On the last day of the first phase campaign, RLSP president and chief ministerial candidate of Grand Democratic Secular Front announced there would be four deputy chief ministers in Bihar if he was elected CM. He said representatives of Muslims, dalits, extremely backward castes and upper caste would be deputy CM under him.
All the constituencies going to polls on Wednesday are considered significant as caste and class clashes took place in all these districts, be it Bhojpur, Kaimur, Rohtas, Arwal, Nalanda, Aurangabad, Jahananabd, Gaya or Jamui. Massacres were common in the last 90s in these areas and once Indira Gandhi had travelled to one of the massacre hit villages-Belchi on an elephant as there were no roads linking the village.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president, J P Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, former chief minister of Jharkhand Raghubar Das, Nitish Kumar, Tejaswhi Prasad Yadav were the star campaigners during the first phase which was marked with Corona virus claiming lives of two ministers too.
Top BJP leaders including former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, BJP general secretaries Saudan Singh, Bhupinder Yadav, half a dozen MPs are down with Virus. Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi who contracted Corona virus during his campaign is admitted in Corona ward of AIIMS along with health minister Mangal Pandey, former agriculture minister Narendra Singh.
Three people, including a candidate were gunned down during the pre-poll violence in Sheohar when the campaign was at its peak on Saturday night.
