Bihar Election 2020 Voting Live Updates: Voting has begun for phase 2 of the Bihar assembly elections which will see 94 constituencies spread across 17 districts up for grabs after a hectic campaigning by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in support of NDA candidates and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav criss-crossing over a dozen venues. According to the Election Commission, more than 2.85 crore voters will decide the electoral fate of 1,463 candidates — 1316 male, 146 female and one transgender. Of the total 2,85,50,285 voters 1,50,33,034 are male, 1,35,16,271 female and 980 transgender, as per the poll panel data. The Election Commission said it has set up a total of 41,362 booths at 18,823 polling stations. Maharajganj constituency has the maximum 27 candidates in this phase, while the minimum four are from Darauli constituency (SC). The 94 constituencies which are going to poll on November 3 are in 17 districts: West Champaran, East Champaran, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, Vaishali, Samastipur, Begusarai, Khagaria, Bhagalpur, Nalanda and Patna.
The BJP’s charge was led by Prime Minister Modi, who addressed seven rallies over two days, including the four on Sunday. Several Union ministers including Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, Giriraj Singh and Anurag Thakur, besides senior party leaders such as BJP chief J P Nadda addressed campaign rallies. In his rallies, the prime minister excoriated the opposition over the Pulwama attack after Pakistan’s admission of complicity in it and berated the RJD-Congress combine, calling it an alliance of “double-double yuvraj” (two crown princes) whose sole concern was to protect their “respective thrones”. BJP leaders repeatedly raked up the Ram temple issues, Article 370, triple talaq and also prominently mentioned the Pakistani minister’s admission of his country’s involvement in the Pulwama attack of 2019 that had left 40 CRPF jawans dead. For attacking the RJD, their constant refrain was “jungle raj”, “lantern era”, “kidnapping industry”, slamming the party over its record on law and order. At a rally on October 28, PM Modi had targeted Tejashwi, calling him “Jungle Raj Ke Yuvraj (the crown prince of jungle raj)”.
