Battle for Bihar ends today: 78 assembly segments spread across 19 districts to go to polls in the final phase of elections

Seventy-eight assembly segments spread across 19 districts will go to polls in the third and final phase of assembly elections in Bihar on Saturday. These constituencies fall in north Bihar, the area bounded by the Ganga in the south. LJP, NDA’s constituent at the Centre, which has opted out of the alliance in the state, has put up 42 candidates in this phase. AIMIM, which entered the state political scene in 2015, has put up 16 candidates in this phase out of the total 20 it fielded this time. Here’s a look…

Key Contests

Kishanganj: AIMIM’s Md. Qamrul Hoda (winner in 2019 Oct bypoll) vs Cong’s Ijaharul Husain (party won seat in 2015 & 2010) vs BJP’s Sweety Singh (runner-up in ‘15 & ‘10)

Kochadhaman: JDU’s Mujahid Alam, sitting MLA vs AIMIM’s Muh. Izhar Asfi vs Moh. Shahid Alam (RJD). The seat has a high Muslim population

Muzaffarpur: Sitting MLA and minister Suresh Kumar Sharma (BJP) vs Cong’s

Sarairanjan: Bihar speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary vs RJD’s Arbind Kr Sahni

Keoti: RJD’s Muslim face, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, is contesting against BJP’s Murari Mohan Jha

Thakurganj: Triangular contest expected among Indpendent candidate Gopal Kumar Agarwal (ex-LJP & -JDU) vs Naushad Alam (JDU) vs Saud Alam (RJD)

Supaul: Power minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav (sitting MLA since 1990) vs Minnatullah Rahmani (Cong) vs LJP’s Prabhash Chandra Mandal

Jokighat: Former Union minister Taslimuddin’s sons Sarfaraz Alam (RJD) vs Shahnawaz (AIMIM). Sarfaraz had won this seat in 2015 and 2010 on a JDU ticket.