Bihar is the 12th largest state in northern India. The Bihar constitutional head is the Governor, appointed by the Indian President, but the execution powers for real are in the hands of the Chief Minister and the cabinet of Ministers, who are elected by the citizens of the state in Bihar election.

To know about applying for a voter card to vote in Bihar election, follow this link or visit the Bihar CEO website on this link.

Bihar has always been an important state since the pre-independence era. The state has conducted the Assembly elections in accordance with the Constitution of India. Bihar is known as one of the major political centres. The Bihar state has 40 parliamentary constituencies and 243 assembly constituencies.

The state level representation of Bihar comprises the Legislative assembly and Legislative council. Assembly elections are held regularly every 5 years to form government that can govern.

Bihar Election: Legislative Assembly of Bihar

The Bihar legislative assembly is also known as the Bihar Vidhan Sabha. The tenure is five years and the members are elected by the citizens. The legislative assembly Bihar election are usually conducted in October and November. To know more about when the Bihar elections are, click on this link.

As of now, the Leader of the House is Shri Nitish Kumar who is also the Chief Minister of Bihar. The Leader of the Opposition is Shri Amrendra Pratap Singh.

The term of Bihar election for legislative assembly nears expiry in November 2015. The total of 243 assembly seats includes seats for SC’s and ST’s. The seats for scheduled castes are 38 and those for scheduled tribes are two.

Political Parties in Bihar election

There are a total of 53 local political parties in Bihar election. But there are 4 major parties that are usually taken into consideration. Here are those 4:

Janata Dal (United)

The JD – U has a strong political base in Bihar and Jharkhand. The current form of the party started taking shape after the merger of the Janata Dal’s Sharad Yadav faction, Samata Party, and the Lok Shakti Party. The JD – U has had a 17 year old alliance with the BJP and was a component of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). However, it broke away from the BJP for putting up Narendra Modi as the NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate. The three ideological tenets of Janata Dal -United are secularism, integral humanism, and socialism. Sharad Yadav is the party chairperson. The JD – U ’s election symbol is the arrow.

 Rashtriya Janata Dal

The RJD is based largely in Bihar and was founded by Lalu Prasad Yadav in 1997. In terms of caste and religion based politics, the Muslims and the Yadavs are its main vote banks. The basic ideological tenets followed by the party include values of social justice, secularism, and equality. Lalu became the Chief Minister of the state and was also one of the most successful railway ministers of India. Lalu Prasad Yadav is the Chairperson as well as the leader of the party in the Lok Sabha. The election symbol of the party is the lantern.

Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress’ Bihar unit is called the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC). Ashok Choudhary is the party president in Bihar. The election symbol of the INC is the palm.

Bharatiya Janata Party

The BJP has considerable strength in Bihar. Bihar BJP’s state president is Mangal Pandey. The election symbol of the BJP is the lotus.

To know who has the edge in the upcoming Bihar Election in October/November, click on this link.