Bihar Elections: PM Modi to sound poll bugle on October 23, to address 12 rallies in total

As Bihar is all set to go for polls beginning from October 28, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing 12 rallies across the State, BJP's election in-charge for the state Devendra Fadnavis announced on Friday. 

Addressing a press conference, Devendra Fadnavis unveiled PM Modi's campaign schedule for the upcoming Bihar polls, revealing that the PM was scheduled to talk at 12 different rallies in various parts of the poll-bound state. PM Modi will address his first rally for the Bihar polls on October 23 at Sasaram and will wrap up the campaign with a rally at Areria on November 3. 

Further, Fadnavis stressed that all the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will be adhered to in the rallies scheduled to be addressed by PM Modi, adding that all preparations will be in place. 

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PM Modi's schedule for Bihar Polls

1. 23 October: Sasaram, East-Champaran, Bhagalpur
2. 28 October: Darbhanga,  Muzzafarpur, Patna
3. 01 November: Chappra, East-Champaran, Samastipur 
4. 03 November: West Chaparan, Saharasa, Areria

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BJP slams RJD

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad lambasted rival party RJD and said that the people of Bihar 'remember the days of loot and extortion' under the former's rule previously. Addressing the press conference along with party's state election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis, Ravi Shankar Prasad said that 'RJD was born for a reason to save someone from corruption charge' and reiterated that NDA was confident of getting a clear mandate from the people of Bihar. Further, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also said that JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar will be the CM candidate for the NDA. 

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Bihar polls

The Bihar Assembly has a strength of 243 members out of which 38 seats are reserved for SC and two for ST. In the 2015 state polls, the Mahagatbandhan comprising RJD, JD(U) and Congress won a whopping majority with 178 seats under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. On the other hand, the BJP-led alliance won from only 58 constituencies. On July 26, 2017, Nitish Kumar stepped down as the CM citing irreconcilable differences with RJD over corruption allegations against Tejashwi Yadav and joined hands with its former ally BJP.

In the upcoming Assembly election, in order to decongest polling stations, the voting time has been increased by one hour. Thus, people will be able to cast their votes from 7 am to 6 pm barring for the areas affected by Left-wing extremism. The counting of votes will take place on November 10.

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