The first phase of Bihar, the 13th largest state in India, assembly elections yesterday saw a voter turnout of 57%. Polling was held for 49 of 243 constituencies on the state.
Major Developments
Indian Election Commission said voter turnout is a record for Bihar. In the 2010 assembly elections, 50.85% of the electorate had voted.
Women turned out in larger numbers to vote than men - 59.5 % of the women voted and 54.5%of the men. There were 13.5 million voters in this phase.
Added to the tight security detail for yesterday’s election was the deployment of three drones.
The polling was peaceful, said Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha
Of the 49 seats where polling was held yesterday, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) had won 29 in 2010. But it had fought that election in partnership with the BJP, which now leads the rival camp. Kumar’s new ally is Lalu Prasad Yadav, his number one rival in the last election.
This time, the JD(U) is contesting 24 of the 49 seats in the first phase, Lalu’s RJD is contesting 17 and third partner Congress is contesting eight. The big worry is whether Lalu Prasad will be able to transfer his votes to the JD(U).
BJP, the Indian ruling party, is contesting 27 seats in the first phase and ally Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP is contesting 13. The LJP has high stakes in this phase - it holds four of this region’s eight Lok Sabha seats. Other BJP allies are contesting the nine other seats.
The BJP-led coalition is targeting at winning at least 30 of the 49 seats in yesterday’s election to get a strong start in what is seen as a neck-and-neck contest.
The Bihar elections are crucial for the BJP which needs to build numerical muscle in the Rajya Sabha, or the upper house of Indian Parliament. The BJP-led government has been unable to push key reforms in Parliament because it is in a minority in the Rajya Sabha, whose members are elected by state legislatures.
The results in Bihar will also set the tone for several key assembly elections next year - West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Tamil Nadu. Votes will be counted on November 8.
