JD(U), BJP, RJD and other parties welcome announcement of Bihar assembly poll schedule

Political parties in Bihar on Friday welcomed the three-phase poll schedule announced by the Election Commission with the two major electoral alliances predicting their victory in the elections.

The poll panel announced that voting for the first, second and the third and final phase will be held on October 28, November 3 and 7 respectively while counting of votes will take place on November 10. Welcoming declaration of poll schedule, RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav asserted that people of the state have already made up their mind for a change of government in the state.

"The people of Bihar have decided to oust Nitish Kumar from the power as they feel cheated by the Chief Minister who ditched the mandate of 2015NDA will be defeated badly in the elections and our Grand Alliance will come to power after the polls, Tejashwi said. Rising crime graph, poverty, unemployment, migration, corruption and farmers issues will be the main poll agendas, he said.

"Our fight is directly with the BJP and the JD(U) is nowhere in the picture in the polls," the RJD chief ministerial candidate said. Ruling JD(U) and BJP too greeted announcement of poll itinerary and claimed that the NDA will win over 220 seats in the elections while the opposition will be routed completely. "It will be a one-sided election as there is no fight for us this time. We will win more than 220 seats. It has rightly been said that Tejashwi can not be an alternative to Nitish Kumar. "Cracks within the grand alliance are visible. One of its ally (HAM) has already left the grouping while another (RLSP) may also severe its ties with it, JD(U) spokesman Rajiv Ranjan Prasad said. He claimed that RJD will perform even worse than it did in the 2010 assembly polls.

The RJD had bagged only 22 seats in the 243-member assembly in the 2010 state polls, which the NDA under Kumar had won with an overwhelming majority. Bihar BJP spokesman Nikhil Anand, while appreciating the Election Commissions preparations for holding elections, said that BJPs leaders and workers are excited over declaration of poll itinerary. "The NDA will unitedly go to polls and win more than 220 seats," he claimed. On the other hand grand alliance which has neither a leader nor any policy will be completely wiped out in the polls in a way that it will be difficult for them to win enough seats to even bag the post of leader of the opposition, he said.

NDA will be going to polls with a vision to make Bihar developed and self-reliant (Atmanirbhar Bihar), Anand added. Former Bihar CM and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) president Jitan Ram Manjhi, who quit the grand alliance and joined hands with the NDA, hailed declaration of the schedule and exuded confidence that Nitish Kumar will return to power once again. We welcome the ECs announcement for holding assembly elections in Bihar. This election will be fought on the plank of 15 years of sushasan (good governance) versus 15 years of jungle raj. People of the state will return him (Nitish) to power as he has served them well," Manjhi tweeted.

The RJD rule in the state from 1990 to 2005 has been criticised by the rivals for bad law and order and lack of development. Congress, another major constituent of the grand alliance, said that people have made up their mind for a change in the government and will vote the opposition coalition to power. "The party welcomes ECs poll announcement. We are ready for elections and will follow ECs guidelinesPeople are angry with chief minister Nitish Kumar who not only ditched the 2015 assembly mandate but also failed to deliver on all fronts, Senior Bihar Congress leader and MLC Prem Chandra Mishra said.