Bihar Elections 2020: Meet 5 Chief Ministerial-aspirants in the fray before Phase 1 begins

The first phase of Bihar Assembly Elections will be held on October 28, Wednesday. The result of the polls will be declared on November 10 after the other two phases on - November 3 & November 7. 

71 constituencies are going on polls in Phase 1 - namely - Dinara, Nokha, Dehri, Karakat, Arwal, Kurtha, Jehanabad, Ghosi, Makhdumpur (SC), Goh, Obra, Nabinagar, Kutumba (SC), Aurangabad, Rafiganj, Gurua, Sherghati, Imamganj (SC), Barachatti (SC), Bodh Gaya (SC), Gaya Town, Tikari, Belaganj, Atri, Wazirganj, Rajauli (SC), Hisua, Nawada, Gobindpur, Kahalgaon, Sultanganj, Amarpur, Dhoraiya (SC), Banka, Katoria (ST), Belhar, Tarapur, Munger, Jamalpur, Suryagarha, Lakhisarai, Sheikhpura, Barbigha, Mokama, Barh, Masaurhi (SC), Paliganj, Bikram, Sandesh, Barhara, Arrah, Agiaon (SC), Tarari, Jagdishpur, Shahpur, Brahampur, Buxar, Dumraon, Rajpur (SC), Ramgarh, Mohania (SC), Bhabua, Chainpur, Chenari (SC), Sasaram, Kargahar, Warsaliganj, Sikandra (SC), Jamui, Jhajha, Chakai.

This year there are as many as 5 prominent CM candidates for the Bihar polls

Nitish Kumar - NDA's candidate

Incumbent Nitish Kumar is the CM face of the National Democratic Alliance that comprises BJP, JDU, Mukesh Sahni's Vikasheel Insan Party (VIP) and Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM(S). The BJP and JDU have sealed a deal of 122-121 seat-sharing, out of which seven from JDU's quota will be contested by HAM(S) and 11 from BJP's quota will be contested by VIP. LJP has now quit the alliance because of ideological differences with Nitish Kumar.

Nitish Kumar had broken ties with the BJP in June 2013, exactly a week after Narendra Modi was made the BJP's campaign committee chairman, and was later made the prime ministerial candidate of NDA. In June 2014, changing the dynamics of politics in Bihar, Nitish joined hands with the RJD, after Lalu's party gave outer support to Jitan Ram Manjhi's government, who was installed by Nitish after he quit the alliance with the BJP. 

Nitish Kumar's party - JDU contested 2015 Assembly polls with RJD and other parties as a part of Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) and registered a thumping victory with 178 seats and Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the CM. On the other hand, the BJP-led alliance won from only 58 constituencies. However, Nitish Kumar broke the alliance on July 26, 2017, after Lalu's son and then Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav refused to resign despite corruption charges against him. Nitish, for the sake of "conscience," resigned as the CM, and sealed a deal with old friend BJP and was immediately back at the CM post on July 27, becoming Bihar's CM for the sixth time.

There have been speculations of an internal rift within the NDA partners - for example, even though the party won 16 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, they were not allotted a cabinet berth in Modi 2.0. Later, Nitish Kumar said that his party does not need a "symbolic representation" in the cabinet and assured that he is not "angry or unhappy" with the BJP. 

In this year's assembly poll, Nitish Kumar has based his campaign on a comparison of Bihar's condition under NDA's 15 years rule versus RJD's 15-years-rule. He has targeted the Lalu family and PM Modi has said that it was RJD who has wasted almost 10 years of Nitish's development agenda, by blocking policies and decisions as a part of UPA at the Centre. 

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Tejashwi Yadav - Mahagathbandhan candidate

RJD supremo and former Chief Ministers Lalu's and Rabri's younger son Tejashwi Yadav has been chosen as the Chief Ministerial candidate of the Mahagathbandhan. He is seeking re-election from Raghopur constituency, located on the bank of river Ganga across capital Patna. The Yadav scion won this Yadav dominated constituency in 2015 by defeating BJP’s Satish Kumar by 22,733 votes. This year too, he faces Kumar and Lok Janshakti Party's Rakesh Roshan (who was with BJP earlier). The Raghopur constituency is a Yadav bastion as Lalu Prasad Yadav was elected twice from here - in 1995 and 2000 polls, and Rabri Devi was elected in 2005. In 2010, Satish Kumar Yadav, won the seat as a JDU candidate. 

In his campaigns, Tejashwi Yadav has witnessed repeated massive crowds and has attacked Nitish Kumar stating that he is tired 'mentally and physically' and therefore people of Bihar want him out. Tejashwi has promised that if he becomes the CM, in his first cabinet decision he will begin the process of providing 10 lakh jobs for the people of Bihar. Though he is attacked by the Opposition for being inexperienced, he has claimed that Bihar needs a youthful and energetic person to be on the path of development.

Pushpam Priya Chaudhary - Plurals candidate

London-return Pushpam Priya Choudhary, the daughter of JDU leader Vinod Choudhary, on March 8 declared herself as the Chief Ministerial candidate. Since then, she has been touring various parts of the state and launched her party called Plurals. She says that her aim is to 'Open Bihar' to development and end '30 years of lockdown.' Despite her extensive tours, she has failed to get the limelight even as campaign season heats up for the Bihar elections. In the elections this year, she has claimed that her party nomination of her party candidates are being cancelled due to trivial reasons. She has even written to the President of India urging him to impose President's rule so that 'free and fair' elections can be held, alleging that 'elections cannot be fair under Nitish-Lalu rule'.

Plurals is contesting on all 243 seats and Pushpam Priya herself is contesting from Bankipore assembly constituency. She faces Congress' actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha's son Luv Sinha and BJP's three-time MLA Nitin Navin. Pushpam Priya Choudhary in her manifesto shared a master plan for the development of the state in the next 10 years. As per the manifesto, the state will be divided into 8 development zones - Patliputra, Ang, Magadh, Champaran, Mithila, Kaushiki, Kaimur, and Vaishali and all the 38 districts will be connected with an eight-land expressway and an eight-lane goods transport corridor. The Plurals party chief has also promised to abrogate Nitish's liquor ban. 

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Pappu Yadav - PDA candidate

Stitching an alliance - Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA) - with Chandrashekhar Azad's Azad Samaj Party, MK Faizi's Social Democratic Party and Bahujan Mukti Party - former Madhepura MP and Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) head Pappu Yadav has presented himself as the CM candidate in this year's election. He is contesting from Madhepura constituency against JDU's Nikhil Mandal and RJS's Chandrasekhar. In his Pratigya Patra, Yadav has promised to make Bihar a corruption-free state in six months if the party is voted to power.

Infamous for being accused in the 1998 CPI(M) leader Ajit Sarkar’s murder case, Pappu Yadav who has now been acquitted is looking to make a comeback in Bihar's political scenario and has been visible on the ground during Bihar floods. Yadav won his first election in 1990 as an Independent candidate and supported Lalu Yadav. Later in 1991, he won from Purnea Lok Sabha seat as an Independent candidate but the election was countermanded by the Election Commission due to allegations of poll rigging. In 1993, Yadav floated Bihar Vikas Party, which merged with Samajwadi party. He had also worked closely with former JDU leader Sharad Yadav and has also defeated him from the Madhepura seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Previously, Ranjan had also contested on RJD ticket from Madhepura.  In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he was third in position and his wife Ranjeet Ranjan who is in Congress lost Supaul seat from where she was a three-time MP.

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Upendra Kushwaha - Grand Democratic Secular Front

AIMIM has entered the fray in Bihar polls after stitching alliance -'Grand Democratic Secular Front - with Mayawati's BSP, Upendra Kushwaha-led RLSP, SJD(D) and Om Prakash Rajbhar-led SBSP. They have declared Upendra Kushwaha as their CM face. By making Kushwaha the CM face, AIMIM is seeking to make inroads in Bihar after opening an account in the bypolls earlier while also catering to the need of Kushwaha to be relevant in the political picture of the state. 

Upendra Kushwaha, once the closest side of Nitish Kumar, had entered electoral politics in 2000 by winning Jandaha seat. He was the leader of Opposition when Samata Party merged with the JD(U) and emerged as the largest opposition party in 2004. However, he was expelled from the party in 2007 and floated Rashtriya Samata Party in 2009. He again made a comeback to JDU and was made a Rajya Sabha MP. In 2013, he again left JDU and floated Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP).

In the 2014 general elections, his RLSP won three seats that it contested as a part of NDA, and was made Union minister of state in the Human Resource Development Ministry. But in 2015 Assembly polls, RLSP won only two seats out of the 23 contested. In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he joined hands with RJD and became a part of Mahagathbandhan but drew a blank. The 60-year-old Kushwaha is now contesting on 104  seats.

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