Patna, Nov 4 The stage is set for the fifth and final round of voting for 57 seats in the Bihar Assembly poll on Thursday.
The fate of senior minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav of JD(U) and RJD Legislature party leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui will be decided in this phase of polling among others.
The 57 constituencies include 24 in the Seemanchal region bordering West Bengal and spread over nine districts of Madhubani, Darbhanga, Supual, Madhepura, Saharsa, Araria, Kisanganj, Purnea and Katihar.
A total of 1,55,43,594 electors are eligible to vote to decide the fate of 827 candidates, including 58 women.
The other prominent persons whose fate will be decided in the last phase include Minister Narendra Narayan Yadav (Alamnagar) and Lalu Prasad’s ‘Man Friday” Bhola Yadav (Bahadurpur).
Except for two seats in Simri Bhaktiyarpur, polling will take place on the remaining 55 constituencies at scheduled 7 AM to 5 PM.
In the two Naxal-hit constituencies – Simri Bhakhtiyarpur and Mahisi in Saharsa district, the poll time has been cut short by two hours and would end at 3 PM.
Like in the previous four phases there is a bitter fight between the NDA and the grand secular alliance of JD(U), RJD and Congress in all 57 seats in the fifth round.
This round would also be watched keenly to see if All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) of Hyderabad MP Asauddin Owaisi manages to successfully launch itself in Bihar. AIMIM has fielded six candidates in Seemanchal areas where Muslim voters are present in large number to test poll waters in Bihar.
The Nationalist Congress Party and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha have also fielded candidates in many constituencies in this phase.
In the last Assembly election in 2010, the BJP had bagged 23 out of these 57 seats.
The JD(U), which was with the BJP in the last poll, had bagged 20 seats, the RJD of Lalu Prasad 8, Congress 3, LJP 2 and Independent 1.
Hindustani Awam Morcha of former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi in three.
JD(U) candidates are trying their luck in 25 seats, RJD in 20 and Congress 12.
