It’s over to voters in four Bihar seats

Key faces in the fray include former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, who is the NDA candidate from Gaya, former union minister C P Thakur’s son and Rajya Sabha member Vivek Thakur, who is BJP candidate from Nawada, and three-time BJP MP Sushil Kumar Singh, who is seeking a fourth consecutive term in Lok Sabha from Aurangabad.

A total of 38 candidates are in the fray in the four Lok Sabha constituencies of Bihar — Jamui, Nawada and Gaya and Aurangabad — which are going to vote on April 19 in the first phase of parliamentary elections, the campaigning for which ended Wednesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally in Gaya on Tuesday in support of Jitan Ram Manjhi, who is the NDA candidate from the constituency. (HT photo)

Key faces in the fray include former chief minister and HAM(S) founder Jitan Ram Manjhi, who is the NDA candidate from Gaya, former union minister C P Thakur’s son and Rajya Sabha member Vivek Thakur, who is the BJP candidate from Nawada, and three-time BJP MP Sushil Kumar Singh, who is seeking a fourth consecutive term in the Lok Sabha from Aurangabad.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed rallies in Jamui, Nawada and Gaya between April 4 and 16 to campaign for NDA candidates.

Union home minister Amit Shah covered Aurangabad while defence minister Rajnath Singh visited Jamui, where Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), an NDA constituent, has fielded Arun Bharti, the brother-in-law of party chief Chirag Paswan, who had himself won the seat in 2014 and 2019.

No tall leader from the opposition’s Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (India bloc), which includes Congress, has visited any of these constituencies.

The maximum number of candidates (14) are in the fray in Gaya, a reserved Lok Sabha seat.

The NDA had won all the four seats in the last parliamentary polls in 2019.