Bihar polls today: Here is what you need to know

The magic number for simple majority is 122.

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It is a face-off between the NDA (BJP, LJP, HAM) vs Grand alliance (JDU, RJD, Congress). The number of seats the parties are contesting for is 243. The magic number for simple majority is 122.

Former Nitish loyalist who held the CM’s post for a short period, CM Jitan Ram Majhi’s HAM and Asaduddin Owaisi’s MIM maybe crucial only in select seats.

The voter-turnout was considered high at 57%. If the grand alliance wins, Nitish will be the CM for the 3rd time, and about 10 other CMs have achieved this feat.

This election result is also important as Bihar has 16 Rajya Sabha seats and BJP does not have a majority in Rajya Sabha.

Here are some of the important candidates:

Akhtarul Iman (AIMIM) – Kochadhaman

Dr. C.N. Gupta (BJP) - Chapra

Arjit Shashwat Choubey (BJP)- Bhagalpur

Kishor Kumar (BJP) - Supaul

Lalit Kumar Yadav (RJD) - Darbhanga Rural

Om Prakash Kheria (RJD) - Darbhanga

Sanjay Saraogi (BJP) - Darbhanga

Anirudh Prasad Urf Sadhu Yadav (Garib Janta Dal (Secular)) - Barauli

Subash Singh (BJP) - Gopalganj

Vyas Deo Prasad (BJP) - Siwan

Tej Pratap Yadav (RJD) - Mahua

Tejashwi Prasad Yadav (RJD) - Raghopur

Ram Vilash Paswan (RJD) - Pirpainti

Arjit Shashwat Choubey (BJP) - Bhagalpur

Pappu Yadav (SP) - Jamalpur

Arun Kumar (LJP) - Harnaut

Nand Kishore Yadav (BJP) - Patna Sahib

Dadan Yadav (JD(U)) - Dumraon

Ram Bihari Singh (RLSP) - Dumraon

Anand Bhushan Pandey (BJP) - Bhabua

Jai Kumar Singh (JD(U)) - Dinara

Subedar Das (RJD) - Makhdumpur

Arun Kumar (BIP) - Makhdumpur

Jitan Ram Manjhi (HAM(S)) - Makhdumpur

Ramadhar Singh (BJP) - Aurangabad

Uday Naraian Choudhary (JD(U)) - Imamganj

Prem Kumar (BJP) - Gaya Town

Important face-offs, compiled by Indian Express

At Imamganj (SC), Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary of JD(U) takes on Jitan Ram Manjhi.

In Makhdumpur, Manjhi faces RJD’s Subedar Singh.

Congress vs BJP: Congress faces BJP heavyweights in a number of urban seats, including Bankipore and Kumhrar, which have had BJP MLAs for more than two decades, and Gaya Town from where Prem Kumar is a long-time winner.

Assembly leaders: Congress Legislature Party leader Sadanand Singh will contest from Kahalgao.

His RJD counterpart Abdul Bari Siddiqui will contest from Alinagar in Darbhanga.

Against BJP veteran Nand Kishore Yadav, Leader of the Opposition, the contestant is RJD’s Santosh Mehta.

If BJP fails it will be direct failure for Modi and the BJP top brass as they campaigned very strongly with Modi addressing around a score of rallies himself. This might be a referendum on his government too.

Results in 2010

These were the party-wise results in 2010, when the BJP and JD (U) contested in an alliance.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - 91

Lok Jan Shakti Party (LJP) - 3

Communist Party of India (CPI) - 1

Indian National Congress (INC) - 4

Janata Dal (United), JD (U) - 115

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) - 22

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) - 1

Independent (IND) 6