The first state-level election in India has begun after the lockdown caused due to the pandemic. In the first phase of polling, Bihar recorded 54.26 percent turnout. The Covid19 pandemic did not seemingly have a huge impact on the voter turnout in the first phase of Bihar assembly polls compared to 54.75 percent in these districts in 2015. Continuing his barrage of allegations and accusations against Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) President Chirag Paswan recently alleged that Janata Dal (United) chief will break the tie with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to join Rashtriya Janata dal (RJD) after the Bihar Assembly Election results are announced. Paswan Junior made the charge just hours ahead of the commencement of the first phase of the Bihar election.

Chirag Paswan tweeted in Hindi, “A single vote given to Nitish Kumar ji will not only weaken and ruin Bihar, but will also strengthen the RJD and the Grand Alliance. He has done preparations to leave the BJP and go with the RJD after the elections. Earlier also, he has formed the government with the blessings of RJD”.

He urged and appealed the electorate to reject Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) and Tejashwi’s RJD. He also said that Bihar was infamous for the first 15 years and that it is in bad condition for the second 15 years.  He also stressed in another of his tweet that BJP-LJP government would be formed in the place of BJP-JD(U). This makes the electoral battle in Bihar all the more interesting for certain reasons. After the demise of Ram Vilas Paswan, the rivalry and ego-clash between JD(U) and LJP intensified with Chirag stating that Nitish had not shown the basic courtesy when the body of RV Paswan arrived in Patna from New Delhi. In this situation, RJD chief, Tejashwi Yadav had tried to pull Chirag and LJP nearer to RJD by giving ostensible emotional support to Paswan Junior in the presence of media. After all of this, in the Darbhanga rally, in the second leg of Bihar campaign, the PM had given hint that LJP is not in the BJP-JD(U) alliance.

What finally pans out as the winning coalition partnership at Patna remains to be seen at the end of the three-phased assembly polls.