Bihar Elections travel diary: Rudy as the pilot, the Nitish factor, ‘patang’, jobs and, more from ground zero

Bihar Elections travel diary: As the IndiGo flight to Patna prepared for take-off from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on 21 October, the pilot began the usual pre-flight introductions. What caught the passengers — including myself — by surprise was that the voice on the intercom belonged to Rajiv Pratap Rudy, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Chapra in poll-bound Bihar.

“We will cover the 800 kms in about 1.5 hours. I am the captain of this journey. My name is Rajiv Pratap Rudy. Just to dodge the curiosity I am also Member of Parliament from Bihar,” Rudy announced as the flight headed to Patna, the capital of Bihar, where elections are being held in two phases this month.

The first phase is being held for 121 seats today, 6 November. The second phase will take place on 11 November. The results will be announced on 14 November.

A few hours later, at a medical shop on Patna's Boring Road, an elderly man says the contest, unlike in the past, is a triangular one this time. “Prashant Kishor is fighting well. He may emerge as a kingmaker,” says the man named Radhuveer, referring to Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party, which is one of the key players in the fray this election.

The Nitish Kumar Factor

The next day, on 22 October, on the way to the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) office on Beer Chand Patel Path in Patna, Rakesh Kumar, the driver, is full of praise for Nitish Kumar, the chief minister, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“During Congress rule, accessing the internet was so expensive. Today 1 GB data is almost free. Do you remember thedifficulties that we faced in LPG cylinders earlier, and see how it is a seamless process now,” Kumar says as he passes through the Janata Dal United office on the same road.

“Nitishji has worked with Modiji. There is no other choice that people of Bihar have,” he said.

Focus on Women

A few hours later, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav announced that if the Opposition comes to power, the government would regularise Jeevika CM (Community Mobilizers) and give them a monthly salary of ₹30,000. This is seen as a counter to Nitish Kumar's government’s ₹10,000 one-time loan for Jeevika Didis.

Jeevika Didis are women associated with self-help groups. There are about 11 lakh self-help groups and 1.4 crore women are associated with them across Bihar.

Miles away from the RJD office at Patna railway station, people are returning to their hometowns to spend time with their families during Chhath Puja.

“Why would one need to leave the home town if factories were set up in Bihar. The successive governments have failed to provide jobs and that is why we have to migrate,” Vipin, who is coming from Hyderabad, tells me.

For decades, Bihar has been a reservoir of labour and talent that keeps India’s great cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad — running. Between 2005 and 2025, Bihar’s outmigration has more than doubled—from approximately 20 million to nearly 50 million people, according to several media reports.

Jobs for youth

After another leg of physical exercise at Patna’s iconic Gandhi Maidan, Naman, 28, is hopeful for a change. “This government advertises jobs when elections are upon us. I am hopeful people will understand this and vote for change this time,” Naman tells me at Gandhi Maidan. Most of his friends have a common grudge – there are no jobs in Bihar. Some even pin hopes on Jan Suraaj and Prashant Kishor, who have been speaking of jobs and migration.

The same day, Tejashwi Yadav was announced as the Mahagathbandhan’s CM face. Mukesh Sahani of the VIP is the deputy chief ministerial face of the opposition alliance.

Amid the announcement, Congress leaders at Sadakant Ashram, the Bihar office of the Congress party, wonder why Rahul Gandhi was not present at the announcement of CM's face in the Maurya hotel

On 24 October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his Bihar campaign by paying tributes to former Chief Minister and Bharat Ratna awardee Karpoori Thakur at his ancestral village, Karpoori Gram, in Samastipur — about 90 kilometres from Patna.

PM Launches NDA Campaign

About three kilometres ahead of the venue – Dudhpoora Helipad Grounds – police had set up barricades to stop any vehicles from proceeding towards the rally site. I walked with people, young and old, towards the venue. Many of them say they are RJD voters, but they wanted to see the helicopter that PM Modi uses for travel.

In his speech, PM Modi launched a scathing attack on the Opposition, accusing it of trying to stake claim to the title of Jan Nayak — meaning ‘people’s leader’ — long associated with Thakur, who represented the EBCs.

The next day, back in Patna, at his residence on 1 Polo Road, Tejashwi Yadav appears confident. “People want a change,” he tells me as he gets ready for another leg of the campaign. This time, he will speak to voters as a chief ministerial candidate.

LiveMint published the exclusive interview with Tejaswhi Yadav on 25 October, in which he spoke about how he sees the elections and what he has promised the people if he becomes the chief minister of Bihar on 14 November – the day of the results.

The M factor

On board the Vande Bharat train to Kishanganj in Seemanchal from Patna on 25 October, Aadil Ahmad, from Katihar, is like many disillusioned voters of Bihar.

“We do not have a university in Bihar. I had to leave my home town and study in Lucknow. I do not have hopes from any one. We always say Muslims had no representative. But Seemanchal has always elected Muslims. What have they done for us,” says Ahmad, who works as regional head with a dairy company in Patna.

Kishanganj is a predominantly Muslim region of Bihar, with approximately 70 per cent of voters belonging to the community. Voters have mostly elected Muslim MLAs from the four seats of this district along the West Bengal border in north-eastern Bihar.

In Majkoori village, part of the Kochadhaman assembly constituency in Kishanganj, Rafiqa is busy patching up her mud house along the riverbank. She seems least bothered about elections. “ The river has come in our house. Which government are you talking about, Rafiqa speaks as three of her children, barefoot and scarcely clothed, run about around her.

On October 27, while most political parties in Bihar paused their election campaigns for Chhath, Kishor led a roadshow in Kishanganj.

At 3 pm , Kishor is scheduled to reach Sontha Chowk of Kochadhaman seat in Kishanganj district for a ‘welcome’ programme of his now-famous ‘Bihar Badlav Sabha.’ But Kishor is running late after a similar event in the nearby Amour assembly seat. As daylight fades and the evening settles in, people wait eagerly to hear from Kishor.

In the Kochadhaman assembly, the party has fielded Abu Affan Farooque, the former President of the Students’ Union at Aligarh Muslim University.

Since Kishor is late, Affan, who has also worked as a lawyer, arrives at the nearby stage, which also serves as the office of the Jan Suraaj Party, to engage the crowd of approximately 2,000 people.

Affan, in his trademark Student’s Union leader’s oratory, reminds the crowd of how Islam emphasises choosing a leader carefully. Affan quotes Urdu poet Allama Iqbal – ‘Sabaq phir parh sadaqat ka, adalat ka, shujaat ka, liya jaye ga tujh se kaam dunya ki imamat ka’ (Read again the lesson of truth, of justice and valour. You will be asked to do the work of taking on leadership for the world’

“Your leader should speak about your rights, your education and about the future of your children in Houses,” Affan tells the crowd.

The 'Patang' factor

Affan also reminds people of the 2020 Bihar assembly polls. Five of the seats in Kishanganj, including Kochadhaman, had gone to Asaduddin Owaisi’s ‘patang’ chaap AIMIM. Four of these 5 MIM MLAs, however, defected soon after the election and joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

Patang is the election symbol of AIMIM -- All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, the party with a strong presence in Hyderabad, Telangana.

About three hours late, Kishor, standing atop an SUV, arrives at Sontha Chowk. He addresses the crowd from the vehicle, flanked by Affan and other candidates from nearby seats. Kishor tells Muslims of Kishanganj to be God fearing and not to be scared of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Of 24 seats in Seemanchal, 11 were won by Muslims in the 2020 assembly elections. While it was thought to be a bipolar fight between the RJD-Congress alliance and the MIM, Jan Suraaj has emerged as a third player.

The next day, 28 October, Kishor addressed a large gathering at the Jokihaat assembly seat in Araria District. Jan Suraaj has fielded a former four-time MLA and one-time MP, Sarfaraz Alam, from the Jokihaat seat.

Kishor’s team promises an interview in Madhepura – 150 km away. Madhepura, the district in the Kosi belt of Bihar, is often called the “land of Mandal politics.” Murho, a village in Madhepura district, is known as the ancestral home of the BP Mandal family.

At noon on 28 October from Araria, I took a bus to Saharsa that dropped me in Madhepura. “Women voters are fixed for Nitishji this time,” a woman told me in the bus.

Next morning, in an interview with me, Kishor speaks at length about elections and how Jan Suraaj has ended Bihar’s ‘political bonded labour,’ and forced BJP, RJD to talk jobs.

The ruling NDA is seeking re-election, banking on the 20-year rule of Nitish Kumar in the state and the 11-year rule of the PM Modi government at the Centre. The opposition Mahagathbandhan is seeking votes on anti-incumbency, misgovernance and job promises. I returned to Delhi via Bagdogra on 29 October.