By News18,Oindrila Mukherjee

Copyright news18

Will Bihar once again choose “politics of development” or is it “time for change”? All of this will come to a head as 7.42 crore voters, fresh off revised electoral rolls, decide the fate of the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led ruling NDA and the opposition INDIA bloc led by Tejashwi Yadav in the state.
The stage is set for a contest the likes of which, the political parties claimed, Bihar has never seen before. While the ruling side said this will be the “mother of all elections in India”, the opposition quipped it will go down in history in “golden letters”.
Both, it seems, are confident that they will win, going into a charged-up election amid numerous political controversies – from vote ‘chori’ allegations to the infamous special intensive revision (SIR) and much more. There is also a new player in the field – a third force in the form of Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party.
Here’s all you need to know:

Chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said elections will be held in 121 seats in the first phase on November 6, while the remaining 122 constituencies will go to polls on November 11.
The model code of conduct (MCC) has come into effect in Bihar with the announcement of the assembly elections.
A total of 7.42 crore voters will be eligible to exercise their franchise across 90,712 polling stations, all of which have webcast facilities to ensure transparent elections – this is one of the 17 new reforms introduced by the Election Commission (EC) in Bihar, which could be implemented across the country later.
Bihar has 3.92 crore male voters and 3.5 crore female voters. Nearly 14,000 voters are more than 100 years old, while 14 lakh will exercise their right to vote for the first time.
Kumar said nearly 69 lakh names have been deleted since the start of the SIR exercise, but refused to answer specific questions on how many deletions happened due to non-citizenship. “A breakup cannot be given in a decentralised set-up. The ERO (electoral registration officer) makes the voter lists, it can be appealed at the level of district magistrate and the chief electoral officer. This has to be followed by everyone as it is mentioned in the Representative of People Act. When elections are held, the process is conducted under the supervision of the returning officer and there is a provision for election petition,” he said.
After demand from several political parties, he said it has now been made mandatory to complete the counting of postal ballots before the last two rounds of counting of votes. He said the upcoming elections in Bihar could be the most transparent one in India’s electoral history and the state will show the way to the rest of the country on the purification of voter lists.
Responding to a question about women voters wearing a burqa and a veil (ghunghat), the CEC said there are clear guidelines of the poll body about the verification of identity inside polling booths and they will be strictly followed. “Our anganwadi workers will be deployed at all polling booths for verifying the identity of burqa-clad women. The guidelines of the Commission are very clear about how identity is verified inside a polling station and they will be followed strictly,” he said.
The RJD is the principal force in the opposition and the BJP is seen to have emerged as the strongest NDA constituent in Bihar ahead of the JD(U), but both coalitions are beset with their own challenges.
In the current House, the BJP holds the largest share with 80 MLAs, followed by its ally JD(U) with 45 MLAs. Backed by four MLAs from Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), led by Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, the NDA’s tally stands at 129, comfortably above the 122-member majority mark.
On the opposition side, the RJD, Congress, and Left parties together have 112 MLAs, falling short by 10 seats.

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE 2020 POLLS?
The NDA had pipped the RJD-Left-Congress combine to a majority in the 243-member assembly in 2020, with 125 seats against the rival’s 110.
Closer still was the vote gap as the NDA bagged 37.26 percent votes against the Mahagathbandhan’s 37.23 percent. In a state where less than 15,000 votes separated the NDA from the opposition in 2020, it remains to be seen if, this time, Prashant Kishor is able to topple the conventional equation in more than a few seats.
REFERENDUM ON SIR OR TEST FOR NITISH KUMAR?
The stage is set for a massive political showdown, with the opposition railing against the SIR and the ruling side looking to maintain its firm grip on a state, which has stood by Nitish Kumar since 2005.
The opposition, however, has raised questions about his health. He leads a coalition, which includes a BJP more formidable than ever in the state, with a proven numerical advantage over the RJD-led combine that has the Congress and the Left as allies.
The verdict will be seen as a referendum on the EC SIR exercise in the state, which drew an energetic protest campaign from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and backing from several regional satraps aligned with the main opposition party.
Whether the campaign against SIR, which the EC plans to roll out across the country, will be a boost to the opposition or turn out to be a futile exercise unsupported by popular opinion, as believed by the ruling alliance, will be decided by the polls.
The jury is still out on Gandhi’s two-week ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in the state between August 17 and September 1, which came amid his charges of “vote chori” against the EC in alleged collusion with the ruling NDA.
The BJP-led NDA has maintained that the SIR is aimed at weeding out infiltrators, and the opposition’s campaign against it is driven by vote bank politics. Despite enjoying solid support from two biggest voting blocs, Muslims and Yadavs, the RJD-led coalition has been unable to draw enough support from other communities to turn the tide.
The BJP-JD(U) coalition has been successful in reminding people of the perceived misrule during the RJD’s government between 1990 and 2005 and the “good governance” of Nitish.
Tejashwi, meanwhile, has been trying to woo the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) and is likely to give poll tickets to a large number of candidates from this social category.
WHAT DID THE POLITICAL PARTIES SAY?
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the NDA government has pulled Bihar out of “jungle raj” and given it a new direction of development and good governance.
Shah expressed confidence that the people of the state will once again choose the politics of development in the coming assembly elections.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said Bihar will vote for change in the upcoming assembly polls and “every Bihari will be the CM”.
JD(U) leader Sanjay Kumar Jha said he was fully confident that after this election, the NDA will form the government with a massive majority under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The Congress, meanwhile, alleged that the EC was in an “alliance” with the BJP and claimed that it failed to provide answers to the questions of “vote chori” raised by party leader Rahul Gandhi.
(With agency inputs)