Campaigning ends for third phase of Bihar polls
October 26th, 2010 - 7:36 pm ICT by IANS
Patna, Oct 26 (IANS) Campaigning ended Tuesday for 48 Bihar assembly constituencies in the state’s fertile belt where balloting in the third round of the six-phase elections is to be held Thursday.
The over 10-day canvassing saw top leaders of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) comprising Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) combine as well as the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPI-M) hitting the campaign trail.
The period witnessed war of words and was occasionally marred by personal attacks. The run-up to the election saw spirited campaigning even by BJP president Nitin Gadkari, senior leaders L. K. Advani and Rajnath Singh, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar. All of them addressed large election rallies to woo voters.
About 10.3 million voters are eligible to vote to determine the electoral fate of 785 candidates in the fray in Gopalgang, Siwan, Vaishali, Saran, East and West Champaran districts.
The heavyweights in this phase include former chief minister Rabri Devi contesting from two constituencies of Raghopur and Sonepur, Birshen Patel and Renu Devi.
There are several candidates with criminal records in the field like gangster Manoranjan Singh alias Dhumal Singh of the JD-U.
After Oct 28, the next rounds of elections will be held Nov 1, Nov 9 and Nov 20. Votes will be counted Nov 24.
The first two rounds of polls took place Oct 21 and 24.
- Bihar polls: Test of governance, rule of law in phase three - Oct 27, 2010
- Voting begins for third phase of Bihar polls (Lead) - Oct 28, 2010
- Bihar polls: Voting under way for third phase (Second Lead) - Oct 28, 2010
- Third phase of Bihar polls end with 53 percent voting (Evening Lead) - Oct 28, 2010
- Hundreds of thousands vote in Bihar -- peacefully (Third Lead) - Oct 28, 2010
- Rabri Devi files nomination papers for upcoming Bihar Assembly polls - Oct 09, 2010
- Rabri Devi files papers for Raghopur, Sonepur seats (Lead) - Oct 09, 2010
- Rabri Devi files nomination papers for Bihar's Raghopur seat - Oct 09, 2010
- Third phase of Bihar Assembly polls begins amid tight security - Oct 28, 2010
- Lalu dares Nitish, Modi to contest against Rabri - Oct 05, 2010
- Bihar polls: Nitish, Modi, Lalu seeking votes for criminals - Oct 16, 2010
- JD-U, BJP take early lead in Bihar (Lead) - Nov 24, 2010
- Puja and polls: Nitish's family prays, Lalu helps Rabri with rituals - Oct 13, 2010
- Rabri Devi to contest Bihar polls from two constituenies (Lead) - Oct 04, 2010
- Campaigning ends for fourth phase of Bihar polls - Oct 30, 2010
Tags: assembly constituencies, bahujan samaj party, bahujan samaj party bsp, bharatiya janata party, champaran, chief minister, communist party of india, communist party of india marxist, election rallies, l k advani, lalu prasad, national democratic alliance, nationalist congress party, rahul gandhi, rajnath singh, renu, rjd, samaj, siwan, war of words