Patna: The first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections has taken clearer shape, with 1,314 candidates set to contest 121 seats across 18 districts after the completion of the nomination and withdrawal process.
According to the Election Department, a total of 1,690 candidates had initially filed 2,496 sets of nominations. Of these, 315 nominations were cancelled during scrutiny, while 61 candidates later withdrew. The highest number of candidates are contesting from the Muzaffarpur and Kudhni constituencies, with 20 contenders each.
Mahnar will see 18 candidates in the fray, followed by Dumraon with 16, and Simri Bakhtiyarpur, Mahua, Ujiarpur, Jamalpur, Tarari, and Buxar with 15 each. Meanwhile, Bhora, Parbatta, and Alauli have the least competition, with only five candidates each. Six candidates will contest in Sonvarsha, Darauli, Rosera, and Matihani, while seven candidates are in the running in Bihariganj, Aurai, Baikunthpur, Kuchaykot, Raghunathpur, Daraunda, and Danapur.
The nomination process for the first phase was conducted between October 10 and 17, followed by scrutiny on October 18 and the final withdrawal deadline on October 20. Polling for this phase will be held on November 6.
The nomination period for the second phase also concluded on October 20, with scrutiny taking place on Tuesday. Candidates will be able to withdraw their nominations for this phase until October 23, and voting will occur on November 11.
Several notable withdrawals were reported. Congress candidate Aditya Kumar stepped down from the Lalganj seat in support of RJD’s Shivani Shukla, while VIP’s Sakaldev Bind withdrew from Tarapur in favour of BJP’s Samrat Choudhary. In Danapur, independent Tinku Kumar Yadav withdrew his nomination to support his brother Reetlal Rai. Similarly, in Dumraon, independent Kartar Singh Yadav withdrew in favour of his father, Dadan Singh Yadav.
In Patna Sahib, independents Shishir Kumar and Dr Ajay Prakash withdrew to back BJP’s Ratnesh Kushwaha. Other withdrawals included former Bihar minister Rampravesh Rai (Barauli), former MLA Poonam Devi Yadav of RLSP (Khagaria), independent Amarendra Pandey (Buxar), Jansuraj’s Shashishekhar Sinha (Gopalganj) and Satyaprakash Tiwari (Brahmapur), BSP’s Awadhesh Bhagat (Raghunathpur) and Dilip Kumar (Bachhwara), and AAP’s Nandan Kumar (Singheshwar).
