Bihar assembly elections live updates: 30.9% prefer Nitish Kumar as next chief minister

The three-phase Bihar assembly polls will be the first large-scale election in the country amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and as per the IANS C-Voter Bihar opinion poll survey, 30.9% of the people are still backing Nitish Kumar as the most preferable candidate to be the chief minister again.

Bihar is set to make history as it heads into India’s first major election to be held under the shadow of Covid-19. The Election Commission on Friday announced polls to the 243-seat assembly that would test the fortunes of the ruling NDA alliance and the opposition RJD-Congress combine.

BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain on Friday said that the NDA will win at least 220 seats out of total 243 seats in the Bihar assembly polls. "In Bihar, NDA will win at least 220 seats in the 2020 elections. As far as the Opposition is concerned, they have no existence. Like the Lok Sabha elections, they will be wiped out in this election. The NDA alliance had won 39 out of 40 seats in Bihar," Hussain said.

As per the IANS C-Voter Bihar opinion poll survey, 30.9 per cent of the people are backing Nitish Kumar as the most preferable candidate to be the chief minister again. Nitish Kumar is followed by Rashtriya Janta Dal leader Tejashvi Yadav, who is the preferred CM candidate of 15.4 per cent people, followed by BJP leader Sushil Modi (9.2 per cent). Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan has been preferred as a CM candidate by 6.5 per cent of the people.

Political parties will now have to mandatorily publish details of candidates with pending criminal cases on party websites and social media platforms, and provide reasons for their selection so that voters can make an informed choice. Following the Supreme Court's directions in February this year, the Election Commission had in March asked political parties to justify why they chose candidates with criminal history to contest elections. Assembly elections in Bihar to be held in three phases would be the first full-fledged polls where such details of their candidates would be made public by parties. The parties will also have to explain why other individuals without criminal antecedents could not be selected as candidates.

The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), which had urged the EC to not hold Bihar assembly elections during the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, on Friday welcomed the announcement of its schedule, saying the polls will write a "new story" of betterment in the state. LJP president Chirag Paswan said the state elections will provide the party a chance to present Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of a "developed Bihar" and its patron Ram Vilas Paswan's work in the state for five decades before the people.

Congress leader Rajeev Shukla on Friday exuded confidence that the Bihar's grand alliance will emerge victorious in the upcoming Bihar assembly polls. Shukla said his party's alliance will win the Bihar polls as the “atmosphere” was against the ruling government there.

Union Minister Raj Kumar Singh on Friday expressed confidence that the NDA will return to power by at least three-fourth majority. The BJP MP from Arrah, Bihar said that the Opposition is unable to keep its flock together and there is no consensus over Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav.

More than seven crore single-use gloves for voters to put on when they press the EVM button to cast their vote, over seven lakh units of hand sanitiser and about six lakh PPE kits have been arranged for the three-phase Bihar Assembly polls amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said on Friday. Besides, 23 lakh gloves, apparently for polling and security personnel, have also been arranged.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers beat up workers of Pappu Yadav's Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) as the two groups clash in Patna on Friday. The brawl took place after JAP workers tried to enter the BJP office in protest against recent Farm Bills. As per the visuals, the BJP workers in which some were seen carrying lathis chased JAP workers. One of the workers got hold of another and beat him with fists.