Second Phase of voting in Bihar assembly today, real test for allies

Today, Second phase of election to be held in Bihar assembly one of the most interesting thing is that today voting covers 6 Naxal hit districts so the security will be very tight today.

Today BJP 2 small allies Upendra Kushwaha (RLSP) and Jitan Ram manjhi (HAM) has to prove there worth. In todays battle BJP is only fighting on 16 out of 32 seats so allies have to perform well to give huge fight to Mahagathbandhan.

In 2010 Assembly election of Bihar Mahagathbandhan manage to get 20 out of 32 seats whereas 12 seats are headed by present NDA in bihar.An analysis of the 2010 and 2014 results in the south-western portion of Bihar shows that if electoral arithmetic works, the Mahagathbandhan should have an edge.

In the 2010 assembly elections, allies JD(U), RJD and Congress between them got 53% of votes polled against a mere 17.7% for the BJP and Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP put together. The RLSP and HAM(S) did not yet exist.

Four years later, in 2014 LS polls, the combined vote share of the current grand alliance came down to a less imposing 47.4%. But even at that level, it was comfortably ahead of the 40.5% polled by BJP and RLSP put together.

The LJP did not contest any seat in this region and HAM(S), still did not exist.
It is another matter that because opposition to the NDA was divided in 2014, it led in 29 of the 32 segments.

Doubts about the coming together of vote bases apart, the reason this arithmetic won't seem daunting to NDA in the current polls is that part of what was JD(U) in 2014 has now broken away to form HAM(S). Itis in this part of Bihar that its influence is likely to be strongest. Manjhi himself is a candidate in this phase andseven of 20 seats his party is contesting are here.

Round 2 battle is going to be interesting factor and edge to edge fight, finally the vote percentage that will locked today will pay a key role in this battle.

Key Points of Today's Election

1. Voting begins on 7 AM. However, it will not stretch to 5 PM as in usual circumstances. The Election Commission has decided to halt the electoral process at 3 PM in 11 constituencies and 4 PM in 12 assembly segments. Only 9 constituencies will vote till 5 PM in the evening. The decision is taken keeping in mind the threat imposed by Maoist cadres active in the region.
2. A total of 456 candidates are contesting. But a depressing fact is that only 32 of them are women.
3. Election Commission has marked 9,119 polling booths as active in the region and issued voter slip to 86,13.870 people.
4. Out of the 32 seats, 7 are reserved as Schedule Caste (SC) only. They include: Mohania, Chenari, Makhdumpur, Kutumba, Imamganj, Barachatti and Bodhgaya.

Key Highlights of today's Poll:

1. Voting for the second phase of Bihar Polls begins
2. Polling in Jehanabad delayed due to some technical snag with EVM machines
3. Bomb found near booth number 144 at Rafiganj in Aurangabad.
4. Polling percentage 21% till 10 am of second phase of Bihar polls.