Bihar Polls: Rahul Gandhi kicks off his campaign trail today, a week ahead of phase 1 polling. What's on the itinerary?

Bihar Polls: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will finally kick off his campaign for the assembly polls in Bihar with rallies in Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga districts today, 29 October – about a week ahead of the first phase of polling on 6 November.

Gandhi's first rally will be a joint meeting with the opposition Mahagathbandhan’s Chief Ministerial face, Tejashwi Yadav, at Shri Krishna Rai Yadav Maidan in the Sakra assembly seat of Muzzafarpur.

Sakra is a reserved constituency, where the party has fielded Umesh Ram, the runner-up of the 2020 polls. The joint meeting will be held at around 12.30 PM.

Later, Rahul Gandhi will address another rally in the adjoining Darbhanga district in support of the INDIA bloc candidates. Here, Rahul and Tejashwi will address a joint meeting at Ganga Bhagat Memorial Ground in Darbhanga at 2.15 pm. Darbhanga also votes on 6 November.

Rahul's Absence from Bihar

Rahul Gandhi’s absence from the ground had become a major subject of discussion across the state, with reports of internal fighting over seat-sharing and disagreements with allies on various issues.

Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha (LoP), last visited Bihar on 1 September, when he addressed the concluding rally of his 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' in Patna.

The Congress is contesting the Bihar elections as part of the Mahagathbandhan, a coalition of the INDIA bloc. Although there has been no official announcement of a seat-sharing arrangement, the RJD is contesting 143 of the 243 seats in Bihar. The Congress is contesting 61 seats.

When are the Bihar Elections 2025?

Voting for the Bihar Assembly elections will take place in two phases, on November 6 and 11 November. The votes will be counted on 14 November.

Phase 1 covers key districts in southern and central Bihar, including Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga, where the Congress aims to consolidate support alongside its India bloc partners.

The ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’, attended by top INDIA bloc leaders including Tejashwi and Akhilesh Yadav, was taken out accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of attempting to disenfranchise lakhs of voters in Bihar through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls and the ‘vote chori’ of vote theft allegations in Karnataka.

It's another matter that these issues don't seem to be resonating on the ground as polls near. The Mahagathbandhan is challenging the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the BJP and Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United).

From the NDA, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have already hit the campaign ground.

Opposition CM face Tejashwi Yadav also held multiple public rallies across the state. Prashant Kishor of the Jan Suraaj party is also campaigning aggressively in Bihar.

What does the INDIA bloc promise?

The opposition INDIA bloc on Tuesday released its manifesto for the Bihar assembly polls, promising, among other things, a government job to one member of every household, restoration of the old pension scheme and 200 units of free power.

The 32-page-long 'Bihar ka Tejashwi Pran' (Tejashwi's resolve) released at a function in Patna, was, however, dismissed as "a bundle of lies" by the ruling NDA.

Tejashwi Yadav, the RJD leader after whom the manifesto has been named, stated that the document contains "25 salient points assuring practical solutions" to the problems faced by the people of the state.

"A new law guaranteeing employment would be introduced within 20 days of the INDIA bloc forming the government in Bihar and it will be implemented across the state within 20 months," Yadav said.