Bihar Assembly Elections: 1,314 candidates contested for the first phase, 61 withdrew their nominations.

New Delhi, October 20 (IANS). The process of withdrawal of nominations for the first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections ended on Monday. The nomination process for this phase started on 10 October and was completed on 17 October. The nominations received on 18 October were scrutinized at the returning officer level. After this, the candidates were given the opportunity to withdraw their names until 20 October. The first phase includes a total of 121 assembly constituencies under 18 districts. A total of 1,690 candidates submitted nominations in this phase, of which 1,375 nominations were found to be valid. 61 candidates withdrew their nominations, leaving the total number of candidates at 1,314. In this phase, the highest number of candidates were in Kudhni and Muzaffarpur assembly seats, where 20-20 candidates are in the fray. At the same time, minimum 5-5 candidates are in Bhore, Alauli and Parbatta assembly seats. According to the district-wise list, the highest number of nomination returns (9) came from Patna, followed by Darbhanga (8), Begusarai (7) and Gopalganj (6). Apart from this, 5 candidates in Vaishali, 4 in Muzaffarpur, while 3 each in Siwan, Samastipur, Nalanda and Buxar have withdrawn their names. 2 candidates each in Madhepura, Khagaria and Munger, and one candidate each in Saharsa, Saran, Shekhpura and Bhojpur withdrew their names. According to the final list of candidates in 14 constituencies of Patna district, a total of 149 candidates are in the fray. 9 candidates withdrew their nomination papers. Maximum 14 candidates are participating in the Paliganj assembly of Patna district. Similarly, if we talk about Bhagalpur district, 102 candidates have filed nominations for 7 assembly seats. A total of 21 candidates filed their nomination in the Nathnagar Assembly. Let us inform you that the date of voting for the first phase has been fixed as November 6. Voting in the second phase of Bihar assembly elections will be held on November 11, while the counting of votes will take place on November 14. –IANS DCH/