The third phase of the five-phase Bihar elections, due on October 28, would happen amidst high security as the Election Commission has now called for the deployment of central paramilitary forces (CPMFs) at all polling stations in Bihar from the third round of polling onwards to ensure free and fair voting.
The third phase is crucial for the BJP which is contesting 34 of the 50 seats and its National Democratic Alliance partners are contesting only 16 seats in this round. In the 2010 state elections, the BJP-JD(U) combine had won an impressive 43 seats from the region while the remain seven had gone to the RJD. However, what is of concern for the BJP is that the JD(U) had led the pack then and bagged 23 seats as against the BJP’s 20 then. It had won 6 of the seven seats in Nalanda district then which is considered a stronghold of JD(U) leader and chief minister Nitish Kumar.
It is important for the BJP to clear the controversy over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election rallies in the state at the nick of time as its rivals – the Grand Alliance of Mahagathbandhan of Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress is trying to rake up the issue of the alleged failure of Modi’s camapigns that they claim has forced the BJP to reduce number of his rallies and instead turn to the local leaders. The BJP has rubbished such speculations and its leaders have reportedly claimed that the Prime Minister will address “four rallies each in the third and fourth phases and five in the fifth”.
As per the Election Commission, the star campaigners for the BJP for the first time include veterans Lal Krishna Advani as well as Dr Murli Manohar Joshi in this phase . Encouraged with the good turnout of women voters in the first two phases, Smriti Irani, Hema Malini and Sushama Swaraj too are in the party’s list of star campaigners for this phase. For the party, its mascot Prime Minister Narendra Modi was lead the pack of its star campaigners.
In all, 50 constituencies across six districts –Bhojpur, Buxar, Nalanda, Patna, Saran, and Vaishali –that go to polls in the third phase of elections in the state.
Following are some interesting facts about the regions that go to polls during third phase on October 28th in Bihar:
Total Constituencies to go to poll in the third phase: 50
Total Candidates in the fray in the third phase: 808
Party-wise break up of candidates in the fray in the third phase
Bahujan Samaj Party – 47, Bharatiya Janata Party – 34, Samajwadi Party–31, CPI(ML)(L) – 27, Rashtriya Janata Dal – 25, JAP(L) – 24, Communist Party of India – 19, Janata Dal (United) – 18, LJP –10, Indian National Congress – 7, Hindustani Awam Morcha – 4, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party – 2, Independents – 276
Total number of female candidates in the third phase:71(9%)
Total Polling Station – 13, 648
Total Voters in the third phase: 1,45,18,705
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Male Voters – 78,31,388
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Female Voters – 66,86,718
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Third Gender – 599
Key Issues: The larger issues remain the same i.e., Corruption, Crime, Development, Drinking water, Unemployment, Migration of work force, Industrial Backwardness, Electricity, Poor educational infrastructure, and Neglect of rural areas.
Results on these 50 seats in 2010
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Janata Dal (United) – 23 (Saran – 4, Vaishali – 5, Patna –5,Nalanda –6, Buxar –2, Bhojpur –1)
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Bharatiya Janata party – 20 (Saran -4, Vaishali –3, Patna –6,Nalanda –1, Buxar –2, Bhojpur—4)
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Rashtriya Janata Dal – 7 (Saran – 2, Vaishali –0, Patna –3, Nalanda –0, Buxar –0, Bhojpur – 2)
Crorepati candidates in the third phase – 165
Average assets of candidates in the third phase – Rs.2.40 crore
Total candidates with assets more than Rs. 10 crore – 13 (2%)
Party-wise break-up of crorepati candidates in the third phase
Independents – 52, BJP – 26 , RJD – 20, SP – 16, JD(U) – 13, JAP(L) – 13, BSP – 13, LJP – 7, INC – 5
Party-wise percentage of crorepati candidates in the third phase
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RJD – 80% of the 25 candidates in the fray
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BJP – 76% of the 34 candidates in the fray
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JD(U) – 72% of the 18 candidates in the fray
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INC – 71% of the 7 candidates in the fray
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LJP – 70% of the 10 candidates in the fray
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JAP(L) – 54% of the 24 candidates in the fray
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SP – 52% of the 31 candidates in the fray
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BSP – 28% of 47 candidates in the fray
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Independents – 19% of the 276 candidates in the fray
Party-wise average assets per candidate in third phase
Congress – Rs 5.88 crore, RJD – Rs 4.66 crore, LJP – 2.62 crore, JD(U) – Rs2.43 crore, BSP – Rs 2.21 crore, BJP – Rs 2.06 crore, JAP(L)—2.13 crore, SP – Rs 1.59 crore, Independents – 4.59 crore
Richest and poorest candidates in the third phase
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Richest Candidates:
a) Ramesh Sharma, Independent, Bikram Constituency in Patna district – Assets worth over Rs. 928 crore
b) Dr Kumar Indradev, Independent, Barh Consitituency in Patna district – Assets worth over Rs. 111 crore
c) Akhilesh Kumar, BSP, Bakhtiyarpur Constituency in Patna district – Assets worth over Rs. 61 crore
- Poorest Candidates:
Zero assets declared by Yugeshwar Manjhi, Independent, Asthawan constituency and Kumar Rajiv, Independent, Fatwah constituency.
Non-Declaration of PAN – In all, 276 of the 808 (34%) candidates in the third phase of Bihar elections have not provided their PAN details in their declaration form.
Age groups of candidates in the third phase
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Number of candidates between 25-50 age group – 576 (72%)
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25-30 year age group – 75 candidates
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31-40 year age group – 249 candidates
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41-50 year age group – 255 candidates
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Number of candidates between 51-80 age group — 226 (28%)
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51-60 year age group – 136 candidates
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61-70 year age group – 76 candidates
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71-80 year age group – 14
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Number of candidates above 80 years – 1
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Number of candidates who have not declared their age details: 2
Educational Qualification of Candidates in the Third Phase
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Graduate and above – 384 (48%)
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Doctorate – 30
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Post Graduates – 97
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Graduates with professional degrees – 67
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Graduates – 190
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Between 5th pass and 12th pass – 361 (45%)
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12th Pass – 159
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10th Pass – 127
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8th Pass –52
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5th Pass – 23
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Simple Literates –54
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Candidates with criminal records in the third phase – 215 (27%)
Constituencies with highest number of candidates with criminal records – Mokama and Digha with 9 candidates each with criminal records
Number of constituencies with three or more candidates with criminal records in the third phase – 41
Candidates facing serious criminal cases related to murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, crimes against women, causing communal disharmony, etc. – 162(20%)
Number of candidates facing murder charges – 31
Party-wise number of candidates with murder charges
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – 5, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation – 3, Janata Dal (United) – 2, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) – 2, Communist Party of India – 2, Samajwadi Party – 1, Garib Janata (Secular) – 1, Jan Adhikar Party (Loktantrik) – 1 , Communist Party of India (Marxist) – 1, Shiv Sena – 1, Samras Samaj Party – 1, Bahujan Samaj Party – 1, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party – 1, Independents – 9
Candidates with highest number of murder charges
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Ajay Kumar, an Independent candidate from Kumhrarh constituency faces 8 murder cases against him.
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Rajeev Ranjan Singh of the Samras Samaj Party from Digha constituency faces 7 charges of murder against him. He also faces six cases of attempt to murder against him.
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Pradeep Kumar of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) from Dumraon constituency and Anant Kumar Singh, an Independent candidate from Mokama constituency face 5 charges related to murder each. Anant Kumar Singh and Pradeep Kumar also respectively, face 6 and 5 cases of attempt to murder against them. Lalan Singh of JAP(L), who is pitted against Anant in Mokama, too faces 5 attempt to murder charges against him. Besides, Anant also faces 2 charges relating to kidnapping or abducting in order to murder and 2 charges of preparation to commit dacoity while his another rival in Mokama, Anjani Kumar Sinha, Independent, too faces two charges of preparation to commit dacoity.
Number of candidates facing attempt to murder charges – 57
Visheshwar Ojha of the BJP from Shahpur constituency has declared 10 charges related to attempt to murder. The CPI(ML)(L) has the highest number of 7 candidates with attempt to murder charges pending against them. The BJP and the SP are the next in the list with both fielding 4 candidates each with attempt to murder charges. Among Independents, 20 have attempt to murder charges against them.
Number of candidates with records of crime against women – 12.
At least 5 of these candidates (One each from Bahujan Samaj Party, Bahujan Mukti Party, Garib Janata Dal (Secular), Lokpriya Samaj Party and Jan Adhikar Party (Loktantrik) face charges of assault or use of criminal force against a woman with an intent to outrage her modesty.
Candidates facing charges of causing communal disharmony – 4
Candidates with charges of robbery and dacoity – 13
Candidates with charges of kidnapping – 13
Party-wise candidates with criminal records in the third phase
BJP – 21, RJD – 17, BSP – 9, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation – 13, SP – 12, JD(U) – 10, CPI – 7, LJP – 4, Congress – 3, Independents – 62
Party wise number of candidates with serious criminal cases
RJD – 16, BJP — 11, SP – 10, LJP – 10, CPI (ML-L) – 9, JD(U) – 8, BSP – 8, CPI – 6, Congress – 2, Independents – 46
Party-wise percentage of candidates with criminal record in Phase 3
RJD – 64%, JD(U) – 44%, CPI)ML)(L) –33%, BJP – 32%, CPI – 32%, SP – 32%, LJP – 30%, INC – 29%, BSP – 17%, Independents – 17%
Candidate to watch in the third phase
Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate from Patna Sahib, Nand Kishore Yadav, is seeking reelection for fifth consecutive time since 1995. He faces opposition from RJD’s Santosh Mehta. A prominent OBC leader, he is the BJP’s Yadav face to counter the likes of Lalu Yadav (RJD), and Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Third Front comprising among others, SP and Pappu Yadav’s (JAP-L). Yadav at present is the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Bihar Legislative Assembly and his name also figures among the probables for the state chief minister’s post in case the BJP wins.
Key constituencies in the third phase
Phulwari Sharif (SC)
State Industries minister Shyam Razak, a close confidante of chief minister Nitish Kumar, is the JD(U) candidate from Phulwari Sharif – an important Muslim pilgrimage centre. Rajak had earlier deserted the RJD chief Lalu Yadav to join Nitish when the latter was an NDA ally. Political equations have changed after Nitish and Lalu joined hands. Rajak is pitted against Hindustani Awam Morcha’s Rajeshwar Manjhi. Last time Rajak as JD (U) candidate had defeated his nearest RJD rival Uday Kumar from the same constituency.
Patna Sahib
The BJP’s Leader of the Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly, Nand Kishore Yadav is seeking reelection for the fifth time from Patna Sahib. He is one of the prominent Yadav face of the BJP and is pitted against RJD’s Santosh Mehta.
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