Patna, November 11, 2025
As dawn broke over the Ganges' fog-shrouded plains, Bihar's 3.7 crore voters queued up under a crisp winter sun for the second and final phase of the 2025 Assembly elections—a high-octane showdown across 122 constituencies that could crown or crush Nitish Kumar's NDA juggernaut, propel Tejashwi Yadav's Mahagathbandhan resurgence, or hand wildcard Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj a disruptive debut. With 1,302 candidates— from battle-hardened dynasts to greenhorn independents—vying for the 243-seat prize, polling stations buzzed with an early surge, echoing Phase 1's record 64.66% turnout and fueling bets on a 65%+ blitz that analysts say could redraw the state's fractured alliances. Exit polls, embargoed until 6:30 p.m., loom as the decider in this bipolar brawl, where caste calculus, caste census cries, and corruption barbs have turned the hustings into a pressure cooker.
The phase-2 canvas sprawls across 17 districts—from Patna's urban sprawl to the rustic badlands of Gaya, Jehanabad, and Nalanda—encompassing bellwethers like Bihar Sharif, where Yadav's RJD eyes a Mahagathbandhan sweep, and Munger, a NDA fortress under fire from Kishor's upstarts. Polling commenced at 7 a.m., with over 50,000 booths manned by 3 lakh personnel, including 200 central forces companies to deter the "booth-capture" bogey that marred 2020's polls. Early whispers from the Election Commission pegged turnout at 13-15% in the first two hours, propelled by star campaigner cameos: PM Modi's dawn rally in Patna's Gandhi Maidan, where he thundered, "Bihar can't afford another 'jungle raj'—vote NDA for vikas, not vendetta," drew 2 lakh roars. Rahul Gandhi, capping his roadshow in Siwan, countered with a caste census clarion: "Tejashwi will deliver what we promised—jobs for the youth, justice for the backward."
This denouement caps a bruising 40-day sprint since notifications flew on September 30, bifurcated into Phase 1 (November 6, 121 seats) and this finale to sidestep festival clashes and flood scars. The math is merciless: NDA (BJP-JD(U)-LJP(RV)) holds a razor-thin edge from 2020's 125 seats, but anti-incumbency bites Nitish's "sushasan" pitch amid jobless woes and Sone river silt-ups. Mahagathbandhan (RJD-Congress-Left) smells blood in Yadav's youthquake, while Kishor's Jan Suraaj—fielding 200+ "clean" novices—threatens to siphon 10-15% votes, per internal polls, potentially splintering the socialist vote bank. Chirag Paswan, the LJP scion, doubled down on Nitish as "Bihar's necessity," urging Paswan consolidation to fortify the rainbow coalition.
High drama underscores the stakes. In Arrah, rebel JD(U) dissident Ajit Singh—expelled for anti-Nitish barbs—runs as an independent, splitting votes in a three-way dogfight. Gaya's Buddhist belt sees RJD's Sudama Prasad, a firebrand Yadav, clash with BJP's Prem Kumar, while women's reservations—post-2023 delimitation—have spotlighted 35% female turnout targets, with pink booths and shuttle vans easing access in rural pockets. Violence flares simmer: Yesterday's mock poll in Nawada saw EVM glitches and a skirmish injuring five, prompting EC's stern "zero tolerance" vow. Yet, optimism reigns: A septuagenarian in Jehanabad, voting for the 15th time, quipped to ANI, "This one's for my grandchildren—no more promises, only performance."
Beyond ballots, the verdict could upend Bihar's power matrix. A NDA win cements Modi's Northeast pivot, unlocking Rs 1 lakh crore infra via the third extension of special status bids. Mahagathbandhan triumph revives the 2015 "grand alliance" ghost, thrusting Yadav as PM face material and pressuring Congress's revival. Kishor's wildcard? A 30-40 seat haul could birth a kingmaker Jan Suraaj, fracturing bipolarity into tri-polar chaos—or forcing post-poll pacts that rewrite caste coalitions, from EBCs to Muslims. Pollsters like Chanakya and Axis-My India whisper NDA at 130-140, Mahagathbandhan 90-100, Jan Suraaj 20-30—but with a 65% turnout (up from 2020's 57%), swing states like Vaishali could tip the scales.
As queues snaked through bylanes—youngsters snapping selfies at VVPATs, elders on ramps—the air hummed with hope and hustle. Counting on November 23 will unspool the saga, but today's frenzy signals Bihar's not just voting—it's voting for reinvention. In the shadow of Champaran's freedom echoes, this phase isn't closure; it's the crossroads where alliances forge or fracture.
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