The third and last phase of Assembly Elections in Bihar will be completed on November 7. These elections will be contested on 78 seats in different districts of Bihar. Although this phase is important for every political party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Janata Dal (DU) will be looking forward to retaining their old seats. For the BJP, the challenge is to repeat the success of the 2010 Assembly elections.
For the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the BJP is contesting on 35 seats while its ally JDU has fielded 37 candidates. In addition, five candidates of the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) and one of the Hindustani Awam Morcha are in the fray.
On the other hand, for the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance), the RJD is contesting on 46 seats and its ally the Congress on 25 assembly seats.
In the last election, the Mahagathbandhan had won 54 seats out of 78 in these areas, but the situation has changed this time around. After the coming together of the JD(U) and the BJP, the RJD may find it tough to replicate its success. The party had won 20 seats in the region in the last election. The same is the case for the JD(U) that had won 23 seats from the region in the last election.
In 2010, 27 of the 91 seats that the BJP won came from this region. No wonder the BJP is working hard to replicate its success in the region.
However, the election in Seemanchal has never been easy for any party. The math here is fairly complicated. Asaduddin Owaisi's party, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen is already preparing to field its candidate in this Muslim-dominated region and make a dent in RJD's vote bank.
The election for this phase is no less challenging for the Congress that is part of the Grand Alliance. In the last election, the party had won on 27 seats, but its four sitting seats have gone to the account of its allies.
Meanwhile, all parties are working hard to improve their position, but who would the voters' favour only be revealed on November 10 when the results are declared after the counting of votes.
