Bihar elections 2025 | "Pehle matdaan, fir jalpaan": PM Modi urges people to vote with full enthusiasm

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged voters in Bihar to exercise their franchise with full enthusiasm in the first phase of Bihar elections 2025Today Bihar celebrates the first phase of the festival of democracy Appeal to all voters of this phase in the assembly elections is that they should vote with full enthusiasm PM Modi said in a post on X mdash Narendra Modi narendramodi November 6 2025On this occasion I specially congratulate all my young colleagues in the state who will cast their vote for the first time Remember vote first then refreshments pehle matadan phir jalpan PM Modi saidElections are underway in 121 Assembly constituencies in the first phase in Bihar on Thursday where 375 crore voters will decide the fate of 1314 candidates including top leaders such as INDIA blocs chief ministerial face Tejashwi Yadav and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary of the BJPThe remaining 122 seats will go to polls on November 11 and the votes will be counted on November 14Polling will conclude at 6 pm and due to security considerations polling time has been curtailed to 5 pm in some constituenciesThe first phase will decide the fate of several senior leaders including RJDs Tejashwi Prasad Yadav BJP leaders Samrat Choudhary and Mangal Pandey and JDUs Shravan Kumar and Vijay Kumar ChoudharyStrongman Anant Singh and Tej Pratap Yadav are also competing in the first phaseAccording to the Election Commission there are 1072 lakh new electors and 778 lakh voters are in the age group of 1819 years The total population of these constituencies as stated by the Election Commission is 660 crorePresiding officers have handed over Electronic Voting Machines EVMs to polling agents ahead of the polling dayTejashwi Yadav who is Mahagathbandhans chief ministerial candidate is in the fray from Raghopur He has held the seat since 2015 and faces a tough challenge from BJPs Satish Kumar Yadav who lost in the 2020 assembly electionsTejashwi Yadavs brother Tej Pratap Yadav who floated a new party Janshakti Janta Dal after his exit from RJD has fielded Prem Kumar for the seatJan Suraaj Party led by Prashant Kishor has fielded Chanchal Singh and this could alter the dynamics in RaghopurTej Pratap Yadav is in the fray from Mahua constituencyThe Tarapur seat in the Munger district is witnessing a contest between Deputy Chief Minister and BJPs Samrat Choudhary RJDs Arun Kumar and Jan Suraajs Santosh Kumar SinghThe seat was won by the JDU candidates in the 2010 and 2015 pollsDeputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha is contesting from the Lakhisarai seat He is facing Congress Amaresh Kumar and Jan Suraajs Suraj KumarThe Mokama constituency has been in the headlines after the murder of Dularchand Yadav Known for clashes between strongmen or bahubalis Mokama will witness a contest between JDU candidate Anant Kumar Singh who has been arrested in the murder case and Veena Devi wife of former MP and influential leader Surajbhan SinghIn Darbhanga the BJP has fielded folk singer Maithili Thakur and she is contesting against 63yearold RJD candidate Binod Mishra Thakur 25 is the youngest candidate and would become the youngest MLA if electedThere are a total of 122 women candidates in the fray in the first phase of pollsJan Suraj Party fielded 119 candidates in this phase Within NDA JDU is contesting 57 seats followed by BJP on 48 and LJP Ram Vilas on 14Among the Mahagathbandhan constituents RJD is contesting 73 seats in the first phase followed by 24 from Congress and 14 from CPIML There will be a friendly fight on a few seats among Mahagathbandhan constituentsIn the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections polling took place in three phases The National Democratic Alliance NDA secured 125 seats while the opposition Mahagathbandhan MGB won 110Among the major parties the Janata Dal United bagged 43 seats and the Congress 19 The JDU had contested 115 constituencies and the BJP 110 whereas the RJD contested 144 seats and the Congress 70With inputs from Agencies