From vegetable markets to grocery stores, from tea stalls to bus stands, election took centre stage in chats, gossips and debates everywhere among voters on poll eve.
The topics ranged from who would be the next chief minister to the probable legislators.
"The shopkeepers at Harihar Chambers were discussing elections on Tuesday evening. Based on their discussions, I can say that the NDA is likely to get at least eight out of 14 seats in Patna. However, a section of traders in Patna City (Patna Sahib constituency) is not happy with sitting MLA Nand Kishore Yadav, who is trying to retain the seat for the sixth consecutive term," said Nihar Hisariya, one of the shopkeepers.
Similar tête-à-tête was on at most tea stalls in the city.
"Clear hai, parivartan chahiye. Jungle raj nahi, vikas chahiye. (It is clear we want change. We don't want jungle raj, we want development)," said Ajay Kumar, a computer trader, at a tea stall on SP Verma Road.
Surendra Yadav, a milkman and a tea stall owner from Maner, begged to differ.
"Bhajpa ka Bihar se safaya ho raha hai. Dilli wala haal hoga kamal ka. Aath seat se zyada nahi milega is baar (BJP would be wiped out from Bihar this time. They are going to face a Delhi-like situation. The BJP would not get more than eight seats in the entire state)," said Surendra.
In the 2015 Delhi elections, Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party had sweeped the polls grabbing 67 of the 70 Assembly seats.
From students to labourers, many left for their native places to cast their votes on Wednesday. "I downed the shutters of my puncture-repair shop around 4pm on Tuesday. I am leaving for my village in Ara to cast my vote tomorrow," said Saroj Kumar at Ashiana-Digha road.
At Patna Junction, many, especially the youth from districts, were seen heading to their native places for the elections. The movement of buses at Mithapur stand was comparatively lower.
"Half of the buses have already been detained by the district administration for poll duty. While many operators did not run the buses where polling would be conducted on Wednesday, others on those routes were running packed because of the election," said Upendra Shukla, the manager of Jai Mata Di Transport.
Candidates, on the other hand, were busy discussing booth management and voter mobilisation.
"I met party workers in the morning and discussed the polling day strategies. The booth agents were distributed the polling packets," said Nand Kishore Yadav, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.
Kumar Ashish, the Congress candidate from Bankipore, followed a similar schedule a day ahead of the poll.
"After worshipping Lord Shiva in the morning, I held meetings with my party workers to discuss booth management. The polling agents were given laptops with which they would search the names of voters on the electoral list," said Ashish.
