Patna (Bihar): Bihar will go for the third and final phase of polls on Saturday across 78 assembly constituencies spread over 16 districts with all players having made last-ditch efforts to woo voters.
Prominent candidates include Vijay Kumar Chaudhary of JD(U), Speaker of the outgoing assembly, famed for his ability to win over hostile opponents with a disarming smile, who seeks to do a hat-trick in Sarairanjan.
JD(U) ministers in the fray are Bijendra Prasad Yadav (Supaul), Narendra Narayan Yadav (Alamnagar), Maheshwar Hazari (Kalyanpur), Ramesh Rishideo (Singheshwar), Khurshid alias Firoz Ahmed (Sikta), Lakshmeshwar Roy (Laukaha), Bima Bharti (Rupauli) and Madan Sahni (Bahadurpur).
Four ministers are in the fray from the BJP Pramod Kumar (Motihari), Suresh Sharma (Muzaffarpur), Binod Narayan Jha (Benipatti) and Krishnakumar Rishi (Banmankhi).
Besides, wife and daughter-in-law respectively of recently deceased ministers Vinod Kumar Singh (BJP) and Kapil Deo Kamat (JDU) respectively are in the fray from the late legislatorss respective seats Pranpur and Babubarhi.
Read: Bihar polls: Fair opportunities for all at Seemanchal and Kosi
Another keenly watched candidate is Subhashini Yadav from Bihariganj whose father, veteran socialist leader and former Union minister Sharad Yadav, had been a multiple-term MP from Madhepura under which the assembly segment falls. She is contesting on a Congress ticket.
Saturday will be the last leg of the voting in the current Bihar polls where elections are being conducted amid raging COVID pandemic. Counting of votes is scheduled on November 10.
Several seats in the third phase election have a sizeable presence of minority voters.
The state witnessed 55.69 per cent polling in the first phase of elections on October 28 and 53.51 per cent in the second phase held on November 3.
The state assembly has 243 seats and results will be declared on November 10.
Read: Bihar elections: 54.05% polling recorded in second phase
