India’s Bihar set to go to the polls in high-stakes vote

More than 13.5 million voters will cast their votes at almost 13,000 highly guarded polling stations across the state in the first phase.

The vote count is due on November 8. Facing the BJP is a coalition led by two former Bihar chief ministers – Nitish Kumar and Laloo Prasad Yadav.

Voting for the primary part of 5-stage Bihar Assembly election is was held in the present day.

He said Kushwaha will not be the JD(U) candidate for Pipra assembly constituency in East Champaran district where the party will field another nominee. A victory in the elections would vindicate the Bharatiya Janata Party’s decision not to project a chief ministerial candidate and instead go to the polls under Modi’s leadership. “The government which has been in power for years has done nothing for the development of the state”, he said at a meeting here on Monday.Mulayam said that BJP was in a winning position in Bihar. “It might be a positive for the markets if he wins, & a unfavorable if he loses ’cause will probably be seen as troublesome for him to pass by means of legislative reforms”, asserted Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at the Mumbai-based Credit Analysis & Research Ltd. “A loss could moreover mean the government could be losing its charisma and signal further losses in the state elections to follow”.

Bihar has always been notorious for corruption, and as the first phase of voting got under way on Monday, Kumar’s party was forced to drop a top-ranking minister after he was caught on camera apparently accepting bundles of cash from a businessman.

This election is remarkable in a sense that Bihar will become the first state to introduce photo electoral rolls, while this will be the first elections when NRIs can vote from a foreign soil.

The party said the commission assured it that live telecast will not be banned. India’s Hindu majority considers the cow to be sacred.

Emotions over the issue have been running high following the lynching of a 50-year-old man in Uttar Pradesh, allegedly over rumours that his family had been storing and consuming beef at home. A victory would tighten Modi’s grip on national politics and on his party, and hand him more seats in the upper house of parliament, making it easier to pass crucial reformist bills on tax and land.

Muslims comprise about 17% of the total population of the state.

In another tweet, the RJD chief said “Modi is the face of BJP in Bihar, campaigning with his entire ministry and machinery for the last three months”.