Bihar Phase 1 elections: 121 seats to vote today with 37.5 mn electors

37.5 million electors to cast votes across 121 constituencies in Bihar's first phase; the outcome will be closely watched with high-profile candidates like Tejashwi Yadav in the fray

Bihar Phase 1: Key elections to take place on Thursday

 

The first phase of Bihar's elections will take place on Thursday, with 121 out of the 243 constituencies going to the polls. A total of 37.5 million electors are registered, including 1.07 million new voters. The phase will see 1,314 candidates, including high-profile contenders such as Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD and Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary from the BJP.

 

Voting will occur at 45,341 polling stations, with a substantial 36,733 of these located in rural areas.

 

Voter distribution and candidate concentration

 

The largest voter base is in Digha (Patna), with 458,000 voters, while the smallest is in Barbigha (Sheikhpura) with 232,000 voters. The constituencies of Kurhani and Muzaffarpur have the largest candidate pools, with 20 candidates each. Reserved constituencies like Bhorey, Alauli, and Parbatta have five candidates each.

 

 

The total population in the 121 constituencies is 66 million, indicating that nearly 30 million people are not included in the voter list, either due to age restrictions or unspecified reasons.

 

Key candidates and ministerial races

 

Some of the most watched candidates include Maithili Thakur (BJP-Aliganj), Khesari Lal Yadav (RJD-Chhapra), and Ritesh Pandey (Jan Suraaj Party-Kargahar). Ministers from the ruling BJP, who hold significant power in the cabinet, are also vying for re-election. These include Nitin Nabin (Bankipur), Sanjay Saraogi (Darbhanga), Jibesh Kumar (Jale), and Kedar Prasad Gupta (Kurhani), who will all defend their seats.

 

Notably, ministers from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), such as Shrawan Kumar (Nalanda) and Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (Sarairanjan), will also face voters in the first phase.

 

Mokama: A high-stakes battle

 

One of the most closely followed contests will be in Mokama, where JD(U)’s Anant Singh, currently jailed in connection with a murder case, will battle RJD’s Veena Devi. Veena Devi is married to Suraj Bhan, a gangster, which adds another layer of intensity to this fierce electoral face-off.