The Election Commission is likely to visit Bihar early next month, ahead of the Assembly elections due in October–November, fueling speculation that polling dates may be announced soon.
Usually, the election commission visits a poll-bound state shortly before announcing the election schedule and announces the dates within a day or two of the visit.
While the NDA, consisting of the BJP, JD(U), and LJP, will once again be looking to continue their stint in Bihar, the INDIA bloc, consisting of the RJD, Congress, and left parties, will be looking to unseat Nitish Kumar.
In the current Bihar Assembly of 243 members, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) consists of 131, with the BJP having 80 MLAs, JD(U)-45, HAM(S)-4, with the support of two independent candidates.
The Opposition's INDIA Bloc comprises 111 members, with the RJD leading with 77 MLAs, followed by Congress with 19, CPI(ML) with 11, CPI(M) with two, and CPI with two.
Meanwhile, the Congress party is set to hold its working committee meeting in poll-bound Bihar on September 24.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, the Congress party is set to hold its working committee meeting in poll-bound Bihar on September 24.
{{/usCountry}}The party will hold the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting at Sadaqat Ashram, their state party headquarters in Patna. Multiple leaders, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi, state party president Rajesh Ram, party's Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru, state's Legislative Party leader Shakeel Ahmed Khan among others are likely to attend the meeting.
The party's state in-charge, Krishna Allavaru informed of the CWC meet in a press conference on Monday, while highlighting that the party is set to discuss multiple issues, including alleged 'vote chori' (vote theft) and others such as increasing crime, unemployment, inflation which is plaguing the state.
Ahead of the polls, Bihar government under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced a slew of measures like free electricity, over 10,000 ‘Vikas Mitras’, who work in villages to make SC and ST people aware of government schemes and convert them to beneficiaries.
The government has also decided to provide ₹10,000 each to more than 30,000 Shiksha Sevaks and Talimi Markaz, who connect children belonging to Mahadalit, minorities and extremely backward communities to formal school education, for purchasing smartphones.