Election fever gripped Bihar on Friday as the filing of nomination papers for the first phase of Assembly polls concluded, with the ruling NDA projecting a resolute campaign in sharp contrast to the disarray seen in the opposition INDIA bloc.

According to the Election Commission, more than 1,250 candidates filed their papers for the 121 seats which go to polls on November 6, and the number was likely to go up as data was still flowing in from districts.

In at least half-a-dozen constituencies, more than one INDIA bloc candidate has filed nomination papers and these seats may end up witnessing "friendly fights" among the constituents unless one of the nominees pulls out by October 20.

The alliance comprising RJD, Congress, three Left parties and former state minister Mukesh Sahani's Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) has still not been able to declare how many seats were being contested by which party and confusion seemed to prevail among them with regard to the constituencies, too.

The Congress agreed to let RJD leader Rishi Mishra fight on its symbol from the Jale seat, but the domineering regional ally failed to reciprocate with a similar gesture in Lalganj where Shivani Shukla, daughter of local don-turned-politician Munna Shukla, filed her nomination papers despite Aditya Kumar Raja, fielded by the grand old party, having entered the fray.

An RJD-Congress face-off seems on the cards in adjoining Vaishali as well, besides in Kahalgaon.

The Congress may end up fighting against CPI candidates in at least three seats — Bachhwara, Rajapakar and Rosera.

Although the VIP has stayed in the coalition, notwithstanding speculations that Sahani was not happy with the deal offered by the RJD, it may end up fighting against Lalu Prasad's party in Tarapur and Gaura Bauram.

Sahani, whose party had won four seats in 2020, though he lost his own, has opted to stay away from the contest himself this time, and when journalists broached the subject with him, he asserted "it is not that I want to enter Rajya Sabha. I want the INDIA bloc to form the next government with me as the Deputy Chief Minister".

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, the INDIA bloc's de facto chief ministerial candidate, is seeking a third consecutive term from Raghopur.

Other prominent leaders whose fate will be sealed in the first phase of polls include deputy CMs Samrat Choudhary (Tarapur) and Vijay Kumar Sinha (Lakhisarai), both from the BJP, besides ministers Mangal Pandey (BJP) and Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (JDU).

Meanwhile, the BJP has launched a high-voltage campaign as part of which Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed a rally in Saran district followed by a "buddhijivi sammelan" (conclave of intellectuals) in Patna.

Shah compared the situation in Bihar under RJD, which was voted out of power 20 years ago, to a "pothole we have been able to fill up, with the resolve to build a fine structure in the next five years." He also charged the Congress-RJD combine with offering patronage to "criminals and infiltrators from foreign countries" and urged the people to ensure "Lalu Prasad, whom you ousted from power in 2005, does not come back".

Widely regarded as the BJP's principal strategist, the home minister also drove down to the residence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for a "courtesy call" which put paid to rumours that the JDU supremo was indignant over the seat-sharing deal in the NDA.

On Thursday, in an interview to a news channel, he had stressed that the NDA was contesting the polls under the leadership of Kumar and it did not matter if in the elections BJP won more seats than the JDU as it was already numerically superior in the assembly.

While JDU leaders have hailed the statement, leaders of the RJD and Congress have insisted that Shah was not unequivocal in asserting that the longest serving CM would enjoy another term in office if the NDA retained power.

Elsewhere in the state, Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand and Odisha, Devendra Phadnavis, Mohan Yadav, Pramod Sawant, Pushkar Singh Dhami and Mohan Manjhi respectively, toured various districts, accompanying NDA candidates during filing of nomination papers and addressing public meetings on the occasion.

The BJP and the JDU have agreed to contest 101 seats each, of the 243-strong assembly, leaving the rest for smaller allies Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Hindustani Awam Morcha, headed by Union ministers Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi respectively, besides Rashtriya Lok Morcha of Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha.

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