Bihar elections: Owaisi hopeful of providing 'viable' option to people with UDSA alliance

With the Bihar Assembly Elections nearing closer, AIMIM chief Assaduding Owaisi has affirmed that his party has formed a 'United Democratic Secular Alliance' (UDSA) with the Samajwadi Janata Dal Democratic. Owaisi has stated that the people of Bihar are 'tired' of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. He added that the people want a 'viable option' which the newly formed alliance will hopefully provide them. 

Flanked by ex-Union Minister and SJD(D) chief Devendra Prasad Yadav, Owaisi had announced the formation of the alliance on September 19. Earlier, the Hyderabad MP had also expressed hope that the UDSA will not only defeat the BJP-JD(U) ruling alliance but also teach a lesson to "secular parties" such as Congress. 

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While refusing to divulge details about the seat-sharing formula, Owaisi came down heavily on RJD for accusing him of indirectly helping the BJP. Citing the results of the Kishanganj Lok Sabha seat in 2019 where the AIMIM candidate secured the most number of votes after JD(U) and Congress, Owaisi opined that his party can't be dismissed as an insignificant player. In October 2019, AIMIM opened its account in the Bihar Assembly after Qamrul Hoda defeated BJP's Sweety Singh by 10,211 votes. 

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Owaisi's alliance, not only faces the ruling NDA but also the Mahagathbandhan as well. On the other hand, a third front has also been formed in the state to contest the upcoming elections. . The alliance named 'Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA)', headed by  Pappu Yadav's Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) includes Chandrashekhar Azad's Azad Samaj Party, MK Faizi's Social Democratic Party and Bahujan Mukti Party.  

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Bihar polls dates announced

Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora announced that the Bihar Assembly election will be held in 3 phases- October 28, November 3 and November 7. 71, 94 and 78 Assembly constituencies will go to the polls in the first phase, second phase and third phase respectively. The counting of votes will take place on November 10.

More than 7 lakh units of hand sanitizers, about 46 lakh masks, 6 lakh PPE kits, 7.6 lakhs face kits, and 23 lakh hand gloves have been arranged. Furthermore, 7.2 crore single-use hand gloves have been specifically allocated for the voters. 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. 

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