Bihar Assembly election results 2020: How did high-profile constituencies vote?

The counting of votes cast in the Bihar Assembly elections got underway on Tuesday morning. The three-term incumbent Nitish Kumar, aged 69, and his 30-year-old challenger, Tejashwi Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, are the principal contenders for the chief ministerial chair. But several other prominent faces are also vying for a seat in the state assembly.

Mint is tracking the results from 25 such high-stakes constituencies as the counting goes on. Check out on this page which way their fate is going.

The Mint list includes constituencies of RJD patriarch Lalu Yadav’s two sons Tejashwi Yadav (Raghopur) and Tej Pratap Yadav (Hasanpur), heavyweight Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav (Madhepura), and former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi (Imamganj). Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary’s constituency Sarairanjan is also part of the list, and so are constituencies of current ministers such as Prem Kumar (Gaya Town), Jai Kumar Singh (Dinara), Shrawon Kumar (Nalanda), and Krishannandan Prasad Verma (Jehanabad).

Sasaram, where RJD-turned-JD(U) member Ashok Kumar is up against BJP-turned-LJP member Rameshwar Prasad, also features on this list. Bankipur is a keenly watched race too, as the candidates include newcomers Pushpam Priya Chaudhary and Luv Sinha, both in their 30s. Chaudhary has made waves with her new “Plurals” party, and Sinha is the son of actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha.

The Bihar elections will be the first electoral response to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government’s handling of the covid-19 pandemic. The party is in power at the centre, and its ally, Janata Dal (United), has ruled Bihar since 2005.

Weeks before the polls, the Lok Janshakti Party parted ways with the BJP-JD(U) alliance, citing dissatisfaction with Nitish Kumar’s work. However, the LJP decided to field candidates only against the JD(U), and not against the BJP. Some BJP members, including once-CM contender Rajendra Singh, have joined the LJP since then, and are contesting the polls. There have been claims that the LJP walkout was instigated by the BJP in an effort to sideline Nitish Kumar, and become the dominant partner in Bihar’s next government. But exit polls suggest that such calculations may go awry, as the Opposition RJD-Congress-Left alliance is likely to make gains.

If Tejashwi Yadav becomes chief minister, he will become the youngest ever in the post in any state in the country. If Kumar dents anti-incumbency to retain power, he will be a rare chief minister to get a fourth term.