Bihar verdict on November 14; NDA sure of victory, INDIA eyes comeback

Elaborate security arrangements have been made for Friday’s counting of votes in the Bihar Assembly elections, officials said. The counting will take place at 42 counting centres in 38 districts and will commence at 8 am.

The state had registered a historic voter turnout of 67.13 per cent in the elections to the 243-member Assembly in two phases on November 6 and November 11. A total of 7.45 crore voters were eligible to decide the electoral fate of 2,616 candidates. “In the presence of central observers and agents deputed by candidates, the entire process will be videographed,” an EC statement said. Two-tier security has been ensured at the counting centres. “While the inner tier has been assigned to central armed paramilitary forces, the state police have been deployed in the outer rung. Also, 24X7 CCTV surveillance and other security provisions have been put in place,” the statement said. At AN College in Patna, the counting will take place for 14 Assembly seats. All schools in Patna have been closed and the road leading to the counting centre has been sealed for the masses. The picture should be clear by 2 pm, said an official.

Exit polls have been nearly unanimous in predicting a clean sweep for the NDA, of which the JD(U) is a part, much to the annoyance of the opposition INDIA bloc. Tejashwi Yadav, the young RJD leader whom the opposition coalition has named its chief ministerial candidate, rubbished these predictions and claimed that the Mahagathbandhan would form the government with a thumping majority.

The NDA in Bihar comprises five parties, though a bulk of seats, in the 243-strong Assembly, were contested by the JD(U) and the BJP, both of which fielded candidates in 101 constituencies each. The INDIA bloc includes the RJD, the Congress, the CPI (ML) Liberation, other Left parties and the Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP).

Prominent candidates of both alliances who are in the fray include Deputy Chief Ministers Samart Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, JJD’s Tej Pratap and Bihar Congress president Rajesh Kumar.

The state office of the BJP has ordered 500 kg of laddoos for the occasion. The JD(U) put up a poster outside the office of CM Nitish Kumar proclaiming “Tiger Abhi Zinda Hai”.

Meanwhile, a day before the counting, RJD and Congress leaders allegedly issued provocative statements. “If there are irregularities in the counting to ensure the victory to any candidate, our supporters will not remain silent and will hit the streets,” said RJD MLC Sunil Singh, alleging that “rigging had taken place during the counting of votes in the 2020 Assembly poll”.

Independent MP from Purnea Pappu Yadav also issued a similar statement, saying that his supporters were ready to make “sacrifices” if there was any wrongdoing.

DGP Vinay Kumar ordered an FIR against Sunil Singh for his provocative statements.

(With PTI inputs)