Voters wait in queues to cast their votes during the second and final phase of the Bihar Assembly elections, in Nawada
Credit: PTI Photo
Patna: The keenly-watched Bihar election came to an end on Tuesday after the second and last phase of polling for the 122 seats saw a massive 67 per cent turnout of the voters who queued up for hours to exercise their franchise.
The first phase of election for 121 seats on November 6, the first such poll after the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) in Bihar, too incidentally saw a record turnout of 65.1 per cent. In today’s poll, Katihar saw the highest turnout with over 75 per cent while Nawada remained lowest at around 60 per cent.
All eyes are now on November 14 when counting will take place for all the 243 seats and decide who will rule Bihar for the next five years.
Barring a few stray incidents of skirmishes, the last phase of the poll remained by and large peaceful. In Rohtas district, a sizeable section of aggrieved voters boycotted polling as their demand for construction of school was not met. In Nawada, the supporters of two rival political parties clashed, but the timely action by the district police defused the crisis.
Elsewhere, polling was conducted peacefully. With today’s election, the fate of Nitish Mishra, Industries Minister and son of former Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra, besides Snehlata Kushwaha, wife of former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha and Deepa Manjhi, the daughter-in-law of Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, has been sealed.
COMPARATIVE STUDY
Of the 122 seats, which went to polls today, the NDA had bagged 66 during the 2020 election, while the Mahagatbandhan had won 49. The AIMIM had wrested five seats. Of the remaining two seats, one was won by the BSP, while the other one by an Independent.
During the 2025 Assembly election too, it has remained a direct and fierce contest between the NDA and the INDIA bloc, with the Mahagatbandhan declaring Tejashwi Yadav as its CM face, while the NDA remained evasive on the issue, although its leaders vied with each other in showering praise on Nitish, but remained short of naming him the chief ministerial candidate.
The third force Jan Suraaj, floated by strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor, kicked off amid nationwide media hype but lost the plot midway after PK himself opted out of the electoral race, leaving his newbie candidates high and dry.