In Bihar, politicos make last-ditch efforts to woo voters

With just a few days to go before the people of Bihar cast their vote in the first phase of the five-phased elections, campaigning has reached a fervent pitch with senior political leaders wooing the voters, one last time before the state goes to the polls.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Janata Dal-United’s Sharad Yadav, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Rashtriya Janata Dal Lalu Prasad Yadav and other leaders are addressing rallies and seeking the people’s mandate with folded hands.

The PM has already addressed his first election rally in Banka on Friday and will address over a dozen rallies in the coming days. Sonia Gandhi has addressed her first election rally on Saturday in Kahalgaon assembly seat in Bhagalpur district in Bihar and will follow it up in Vajirganj in Gaya district.

Lalu and Nitish, who have joined hands for the Bihar polls, have already addressed over three dozen rallies in the last four days. “Both Lalu and Nitish are addressing four to five rallies daily in different assembly constituencies,” said RJD leader Ram Chandra Purve. 

BJP president Amit Shah has been camping out in Bihar for last few days and he will stay here for another few days. “Shah has also addressed three rallies and will address more,” BJP leaders said, adding that they hoped that the Modi magic would work in Bihar.

Besides Modi and Shah, eight union ministers, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani will also address rallies in Bihar.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will also address three rallies on October 7 in different assembly seats in Bihar.

The JD-U and RJD are contesting 101 assembly seats each and Congress 41 seats. The BJP is contesting 160 assembly seats while its allies are contesting 83 seats.

A self-claimed Third Front of six parties, including Samajwadi Party, Nationalist Congress Party, the Jan Adhikar Party is also contesting from all assembly seats.

Besides these, even the Left parties have joined hands to contest the polls as a collective front.

Bihar will go to the polls from October 12 in five phases. The results will be known on November 8. 

Image: Congress President Sonia Gandhi waves a crowd during an election rally in Kahalgaon. Photograph: PTI