Polling begins for 121 seats in first phase of Bihar elections 2025

Voting began for 121 seats in Bihar in the first phase of assembly elections on Thursday morning amid tight security arrangements an official said reported news agency PTIThe polling commenced at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm reported PTIIn the first phase a total of 375 crore voters will decide the electoral fate of 1314 candidates including top leaders such as INDIA blocs chief ministerial face Tejashwi Yadav and Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary of the BJPPrime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to electors to cast their votes with full enthusiasmToday marks the first phase of the celebration of democracy in Bihar I urge all voters in this phase of the assembly elections to cast their votes with full enthusiasm he wrote on XHe also said On this occasion my special congratulations to all my young friends in the state who are casting their votes for the first time Remember first vote then refreshmentsDefence Minister Rajnath Singh also urged voters to exercise their franchise in the celebration of democracy and congratulated the young electors who are casting their votes for the first timeYadav appealed to voters to participate in the polling process and said Voting is crucial for the sake of democracy the Constitution and humanityThe RJD candidate aims at a hattrick in the Raghopur seat while his principal challenger Satish Kumar of the BJP had defeated his mother Rabri Devi in 2010 while contesting on a JDU symbolChoudhary who is enjoying his second consecutive term in the legislative council is contesting a direct election after about a decade from Tarapur The former state BJP president faces a stiff challenge from RJDs Arun Kumar Sah who had lost the seat in 2020 by a margin of about 5000 votesThe other Deputy CM in the Nitish Kumar government Vijay Kumar Sinha will also have his electoral fate decided in the first phase of pollsSinha hopes to retain Lakhisarai for the fourth consecutive term surmounting the notsoformidable challenge provided by Amresh Kumar of the Congress and Suraj Kumar of the Jan Suraaj PartyMangal Pandey a minister and a former state BJP president is contesting from Siwan the first instance of his fighting an assembly electionPandey who has been an MLC since 2012 faces a formidable adversary in RJDs Awadh Bihari Chaudhary a former assembly Speaker who has been a severalterm MLA from the seatThe neighbouring seat of Raghunathpur is being keenly watched because of Osama Shahab the 31yearold son of deceased gangsterturnedpolitician Mohd Shahabuddin a severalterm MP from Siwan who was known as the uncrowned king of the areaOsamas candidature has been latched onto by the NDA which cites it as proof that the RJD stood for return of jungle raj and BJP leaders like Himanta Biswa Sarma have even pointed out that the name reminded one of slain terrorist Osama Bin LadenOne of the most keenly watched contests will be in Mokama where JDUs Anant Singh who is in jail in connection with the killing of a Jan Suraaj Party supporter during the election campaign is locked in a straight battle with RJDs Veena Devi married to Suraj Bhan a gangsterIn the Mahua seat Tejashwi Yadavs estranged elder brother Tej Pratap who has floated his own outfit Janshakti Janata Dal is locked in a multicornered contestThe elder son of RJD president Lalu Prasad seeks to wrest the seat from RJD MLA Mukesh Raushan though the presence of Sanjay Singh the Lok Janshakti Party Ram Vilas candidate who represents the NDA and Independent Ashma Parveen the runnerup of 2020 has queered the pitchOther seats and candidates whose performance will be keenly watched include young folk singer Maithili Thakur BJPAliganj Bhojpuri superstars Khesari Lal Yadav RJDChhapra and Ritesh Pandey Jan Suraaj Party KargaharAbout a dozen ministers most of them from the BJP which has the lions share in the cabinet by virtue of its superior strength in the assembly are in the frayThey are Nitin Nabin Bankipur Sanjay Saraogi Darbhanga Jibesh Kumar Jale and Kedar Prasad Gupta Kurhani all of whom will be defending their seatsMinisters belonging to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumars JDU whose fate will be decided in the first phase include Shrawan Kumar Nalanda and Vijay Kumar Chaudhary SarairanjanVoting will take place at 45341 polling stations an overwhelming majority of which 36733 fall in rural areasWith inputs from PTI