Four constituencies – Aurangabad, Gaya, Jamui, and Nawada – that are holding polls on the day/phase one of the seven-phase all have RJD candidates. In the past, Aurangabad was represented by the Congress. This time RJD grabbed it. No doubt, this has had very demoralising impact on the local Congressmen, since it was expected that on the day of the voting that at least local Congress leaders will come out in favour of the RJD candidates. But this has not happened.

Bihar will have elections in all seven phases. The first phase is already underway. The second phase will take place on April 26, the third on May 7, the fourth on May 13, the fifth on May 20, the sixth on May 25, and the seventh on June 1.

While BJP is trying to win Nawada and Aurangabad seats, Lok Janshakti Party is working hard to get Jamui from where Chirag Paswan, son of Ram Bilas Paswan, is in the fray. This time in Aurangabad, Sushil Kumar Singh, a three-time BJP MP, is facing Abhay Kumar Kushwaha from RJD of the INDIA bloc. Another contender, Sunesh Kumar, is representing the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Kushwaha, previously associated with the JD(U), has now joined the RJD to contest for the Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat.

In Nawada, Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Thakur is representing the BJP, which has reclaimed the seat from the late Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP. RJD has nominated Shravan Kushwaha for Nawada. The former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, chief of Hindustani Awam Morcha, is desperate to enter Parliament from Gaya. The RJD has put forward Kumar Sarvajeet as its candidate. In Jamui, the RJD's candidate Archana Ravidas is the only woman among the main contenders. She's being presented as a "local" by the party. Chirag Paswan, the head of the Lok Janshakti Party, is contesting from Jamui.

The second phase of Bihar elections will be held in Kishanganj, Bhagalpur, Purnes, Katihar and Banka on April 26 with 86 candidates in the battle. Prominent faces in the battle are Mujahid Alam, AkhtarulIman, Ajeet Sharma, Bima Bharti, and Tariq Anwar. Barring Kishanganj, where sitting Congress MP Mohd Javed seeks re-election, all seats are held by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U), which has reposed its trust in those who had won their respective constituencies five years ago. The Muslim-majority seat is set to witness a three-cornered fight between the Congress, JD(U) and AIMIM, with the latter nominating AkhtarulIman, who had polled nearly three lakh votes in the last elections.

Bhagalpur has largest number of contestants. Here, JD(U) MP Ajay Mandal is facing challenge from Ajeet Sharma of the Congress, who filed his nomination papers on the last day. Sharma, who had earlier won the Bhagalpur assembly seat three times in a row, initially wanted a party ticket for his daughter Neha, a Bollywood actress, who, however, refused to enter the fray. Sharma filed his papers in the presence of state Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh and is contesting after nearly three decades.

Electoral battle of Purnea has taken a curious but interesting turn, with upper-caste Bhumihars, especially allied to Congress, have extended their complete support to Pappu Yadav, the Congress rebel contesting as independent. However Singh, himself a Bhumihar leader, has cautioned Pappu over contesting the election. What is significant is that he has not initiated any disciplinary action against him. Nevertheless, Singh said that Pappu should follow the example of some other leaders who wanted to contest polls from other seats but chose not to in the interest of our coalition," Singh said.RJD candidate from Purnea, Bima Bharti, is a sitting MLA who quit the JD(U) a couple of weeks ago. JD(U) MP Santosh Kushwaha is aiming at a hat-trick from the seat.

Katihar is witnessing a straight contest between JD(U) MP Dulal Chandra Goswami and former Union minister Tariq Anwar, the Congress runner-up of 2019, who had in the past won the seat a number of times for the party. In Banka, sitting JD(U) MP Giridhari Yadav is locked in a straight contest with Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav, who had won the seat for RJD in 2014. (IPA Service)