Over 7.6 crore voters to elect 40 Lok Sabha members from Bihar
Piyush Tripathi | TNN | Updated: Mar 11, 2019, 06:44 IST
Representative imagePATNA: The stage is set for one of the biggest democratic exercises in recent years in Bihar. More than 7 crore 6 lakh state voters will exercise their franchise in the election to be held in 7 phases to elect 40 Lok Sabha members from the state. The figure is 85 lakh more than in the 2014 general election. Though the number of voters comprise nearly 60% of the total population in the state, only 58.46% of people enrolled exercised their franchise in the last general election.
Its magnanimity is reflected in the fact that the election will be held in seven phases only in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
For all practical reasons, most of the players are the same with some on the other side of the fence. For instance, CM Nitish Kumar, who had waged war against PM Narendra Modi for almost four years after breaking the 17-year-old ties with BJP in 2013, is back to the NDA fold to take on the opposition challenge led by RJD of Lalu Prasad, who is in jail.
“It is going to be a closely-contested election. People had an easy choice last time owing to anti-incumbency factor against the UPA government. This time, people may find it difficult to make a choice as they have to assess the performance of the Narendra Modi government amid the prevailing sentiment of nationalism. Opposition, on the other hand, is also getting stronger. Thus, it is going to be a much eventful election,” former Patna College principal N K Chaudhary said.
The election campaign by different parties will be keenly watched across the country as political observers feel the party or alliance winning Bihar and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh forms government at the Centre.
Nonetheless, key issues this time are likely to range from the recent air strikes by Indian Air Force in Pakistan, deteriorating law and order situation in state, corruption and reservation among others.
The campaigning in Bihar has often been marked by the bitter war of words among the rivals in the past. In the last state assembly elections which Nitish Kumar and Lalu contested together, PM Modi called CM Nitish and Lalu as ‘Chandan Kumar’ and ‘Bhujang Prasad’. In response, the RJD chief had called the PM a ‘Brahm Pishach’ (dangerous ghost)’ and Amit Shah a ‘Narbhkashi’ (maneater)’.
Total 59,807 polling stations were set up across the 40 parliamentary constituencies in Bihar in the last election. Thousands of government staff and security forces were deployed in the last elections and similar numbers or even more are expected to be roped in this time for conducting the mammoth exercise.
Its magnanimity is reflected in the fact that the election will be held in seven phases only in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
For all practical reasons, most of the players are the same with some on the other side of the fence. For instance, CM Nitish Kumar, who had waged war against PM Narendra Modi for almost four years after breaking the 17-year-old ties with BJP in 2013, is back to the NDA fold to take on the opposition challenge led by RJD of Lalu Prasad, who is in jail.
“It is going to be a closely-contested election. People had an easy choice last time owing to anti-incumbency factor against the UPA government. This time, people may find it difficult to make a choice as they have to assess the performance of the Narendra Modi government amid the prevailing sentiment of nationalism. Opposition, on the other hand, is also getting stronger. Thus, it is going to be a much eventful election,” former Patna College principal N K Chaudhary said.
The election campaign by different parties will be keenly watched across the country as political observers feel the party or alliance winning Bihar and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh forms government at the Centre.
Nonetheless, key issues this time are likely to range from the recent air strikes by Indian Air Force in Pakistan, deteriorating law and order situation in state, corruption and reservation among others.
The campaigning in Bihar has often been marked by the bitter war of words among the rivals in the past. In the last state assembly elections which Nitish Kumar and Lalu contested together, PM Modi called CM Nitish and Lalu as ‘Chandan Kumar’ and ‘Bhujang Prasad’. In response, the RJD chief had called the PM a ‘Brahm Pishach’ (dangerous ghost)’ and Amit Shah a ‘Narbhkashi’ (maneater)’.
Total 59,807 polling stations were set up across the 40 parliamentary constituencies in Bihar in the last election. Thousands of government staff and security forces were deployed in the last elections and similar numbers or even more are expected to be roped in this time for conducting the mammoth exercise.
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