Patna : The high-stakes Bihar Assembly election kicked off on Thursday, with 13.13 per cent voter turnout recorded till 9 am in the first of two phases. The fate of several ministers, as well as RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and his estranged brother Tej Pratap, will be sealed in the first phase. Poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party has been billed as the ‘X’ factor, adding a bit of intrigue to the high-stakes contest.
The Mahagathbandhan, led by the RJD, had the upper hand, bagging 63 seats to the NDA’s 55. It remains to be seen if history repeats itself, as the region, which includes the capital Patna, has more often than not determined the pulse of Bihar politics. Prominent seats in this phase include Raghopur, where Tejashwi is hoping for a hat-trick; Mahua, where Tej Pratap is in the fray; and Tarapur, from where deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary is contesting.
Raghopur will witness a high-voltage contest, with Tejashwi squaring off against BJP’s Satish Kumar, who had defeated his mother Rabri Devi in the 2010 elections. This time, Kumar is contesting on a JD(U) symbol. Prashant Kishor’s party is also in the fray. Tejashwi’s estranged elder brother Tej Pratap will seek to wrest the seat from the sitting RJD MLA Mukesh Raushan. It will be a battle of prestige for the Hasanpur MLA after being expelled from the RJD earlier this year.
Thakur, the BJP’s youngest candidate, will bank on her fame to win the upper caste Brahmin-dominated constituency. Bhojpuri superstars Khesari Lal Yadav, who is contesting on a RJD ticket from Chhapra, and Ritesh Pandey, who is contesting from the Jan Suraaj Party in Kargahar, will also face the poll music. Several ministers in the Nitish Kumar government, including Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, will also have their electoral fates decided.
Read Also : Anunay Sood, popular travel influencer, passes away