AIMIM to contest three seats in second phase of Bihar polls; Owaisi lists out candidates

AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday announced the list of party candidates who will be contesting in the second phase of the upcoming Bihar assembly elections. Owaisi took to Twitter to inform that his party will contest on three seats in the second phase. The three constituencies on which AIMIM will contest are Sahebpur Kamal, Sahebganj and Phulwari Sharif.

"Majlis will contest 3 seats in the second phase of Bihar elections:

1 Sahebpur Kamal: Gore Lal Yadav

2 Sahebganj: Mohammad Mukim

3 Phulwari Sharif: Miss Pratibha

I request you to strengthen your independent political voice. Just vote for the kite sign for your safety and honour," Owaisi tweeted in Hindi.

Owaisi on Thursday had announced his party's alliance with Upendra Kushwaha-led RLSP, Mayawati's BSP, Devendra Yadav's SJDD, and SBSP as the 'Grand Democratic Secular Front' to contest in the upcoming Bihar polls. Naming Kushwaha as the alliance's chief ministerial face, Owaisi said that 15 years of BJP-JDU and RJD-Congress did not benefit anyone in the state.

Besides the Grand Democratic Secular Front,  Pappu Yadav's Jan Adhikar Party (JAP), Chandrashekhar Azad's Azad Samaj Party, MK Faizi's Social Democratic Party and Bahujan Mukti Party teamed up to form Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA) to contest the Bihar elections.

NDA vs Mahagathbandhan

Leaving aside the smaller alliances, a major battle is expected between NDA and Mahagathbandhan. From the NDA fold, BJP will contest on 121 seats of which 11 seats have been allocated to its smaller allies, while the ruling JDU in coalition with BJP will contest on 122 seats of which 7 seats are allotted to Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM, in the 243 seat Bihar assembly election. This election will witness one of the allies in NDA, the LJP contesting solo as the party had differences over the seat-sharing ratio with JDU. On the other hand, Mahagathbandhan consisting of Congress and RJD will have Tejashwi Yadav as the CM face with RJD-Congress agreeing on 144:70 seat-sharing ratio along with three other Communist parties contesting on 29 seats.

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Battle of Bihar Election

Bihar goes to polls in three phases for its 243 assembly seats on October 28, November 3 and November 7. Keeping in view the COVID-19 protocol, the voting time has been increased by one hour. The counting of votes will take place on November 10. The ECI announced the Bihar election schedule on September 25. The polling for the 243-member legislative assembly will be held in three phases. The first phase will be held on October 28, Second on November 3 and the third on November 7, while the counting of votes and results declaration will be held on November 10. The Model Code of Conduct has been in effect since the announcement of election dates.

In the 2015 assembly polls, CM Nitish Kumar's JDU, then a part of the Mahagathbandhan won 71 seats, Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD won 80 seats, and Congress won 27 seats. The BJP which fought the elections alone after Kumar in 2013 broke the 17-year-old alliance won a mere 53 seats out of 157 contested. However, the saffron party came back to power when Kumar ditched the Mahagathbandhan and once again stitched an alliance with the BJP.

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