Campaigning for the second phase of Bihar assembly elections ended on Sunday evening, setting the stage for polling on Tuesday in 94 constituencies spread across 17 districts. The 94 constituencies which are going to poll on

November 3 are in 17 districts: West Champaran, East Champaran, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, Vaishali, Samastipur, Begusarai, Khagaria, Bhagalpur, Nalanda and Patna. Meanwhile, the canvassing for the third and final phase of Bihar polls 2020 will continue with key leaders such as Nitish Kumar, JP Nadda, Rajnath Singh, Tejashvi Yadav, Chirag Paswan hitting the campaign trail.

Here are the highlights from the 2020 Bihar elections for November 2:

• Yogi Adityanath accuses Congress, RJD of cheating people

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said in West Champaran on November 2 that the Congress and RJD, "only know how to cheat people. They've been dividing the society on the basis of caste, region and religion. Don't expect them ever to unite people", ANI reported. "Those who looted jobs of youth for the benefit of their family, how're they even promising jobs now, he questioned. The UP CM also asked, "From where they'll bring jobs? When they were in power, let alone provide food for the poor, they even digested fodder of animals, who can't say a word."

• LJP shadow looms over NDA as Bihar heads for phase 2 of polls

Bhagalpur has been known for long as a BJP stronghold, which even RJD supremo Lalu Prasad could not decimate during the peak of his political powers in the 90s, but as the silk city of Bihar goes to polls on Tuesday it has come to symbolise the risk the ruling NDA faces from its former constituent Lok Janshakti Party in these assembly elections. This is among the few seats where the Chirag Paswan-headed party has fielded a candidate against the BJP while going out all guns blazing against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-headed JD(U) across the state. The LJP's clever ploy of backing influential local politicians, mostly upper castes, with its traditional support base of a section of Dalits to make a space for itself in the state's crowded political arena has upset the traditional calculations in this constituency, members of different political parties say. It has given ticket to former BJP politician Rajesh Verma, a young and resourceful leader coming from the Marwari community, and his potential draw among the trading castes, who are in large numbers here, is keeping the saffron alliance on edge.

• 31% candidates in Bihar phase 3 polls have declared criminal cases against them: ADR

Out of 1,195 candidates contesting in phase-3 of the Bihar assembly elections later this week, 31 per cent have declared criminal cases against themselves, according to a report by poll rights group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). About 282 or 24 per cent have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. Serious criminal cases are non-bailable offences attracting over five years of imprisonment, the report said. As many as 361 or 30 per cent of these candidates have stated their financial assets to be worth crores of rupees, the report said. Out of 1,195 candidates analyzed, 371 or 31 per cent have declared criminal cases against themselves, it said. According to the report, 32 (73 per cent) out of 44 candidates analysed from the RJD have declared criminal cases against themselves and 22 (50 per cent) of them have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

• Haranut (Nalanda) constituency, which houses Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's village, is also going to vote in this phase.
• Congress leader Shatrughan Sinha's son Luv Sinha is also in the fray this phase from Bankipur seat in Patna. He is up against sitting BJP MLA Nitin Nabin.
• The RJD has 56 candidates in the fray this phase, the BJP 46, the JD(U) 43, the RLSP 36 and the Congress 24.
• This phase is also very crucial for Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party which has fielded 52 candidates. Their performance in this phase will indicate if the issues raised by Paswan during his campaign—corruption charges against Nitish Kumar, education degrees getting delayed, lack of jobs, and migration for livelihood—found resonance among the people.
• Tejashwis elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav is also in the fray in this phase. Among other prominent faces whose fate would be closed in EVMs in this phase are: BJP leader and Road Construction Minister Nand Kishore Yadav (Patna Sahib), JD(U) lawmaker and Rural Development Minister Shrawan Kumar (Nalanda), BJP MLA and Cooperative Minister Rana Randhir Singh (Madhuban), and JD(U) leader and state minister Ramsevak Singh (Hathua). Also in the fray is Chandrika Roy (JDU), the father of Tej Pratap Yadavs estranged wife Aishwarya Rai, who in her campaign has been highlighting the alleged "ill-treatment" meted out to her by RJD chief Lalu Prasad's family.
• Tejashwi's salvos drew a stinging response from CM Nitish Kumar who tried to blunt his attack by comparing the law and order situation under the RJD's government (1990-2005) with that under his 15 rule and constantly reminding the voter that RJD chief Lalu Yadav has been implicated for corruption and is serving a jail term. Kumar also kept counting his government's work on power, road and giving reservation to women in local bodies. He also said that he would prefer population-proportionate reservation.
• Tejashwi, in the meanwhile, scaled up the intensity of his campaign and addressed close to a dozen, or even more, rallies every day since the voting for phase 1 of the election on October 28. He kept his focus on his promise of 10 lakh jobs, while also assailing Kumar over a record "46.6 percent unemployment", poor status of education and health facilities, the handling of the coronavirus crisis among other things.
• Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi addressed two rallies for this phase of elections where he cornered Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the issues of unemployment, migrant crisis, farm laws and sugar mills. He had said the prime minister talks about other countries in his speeches but not about the issues facing the nation such as unemployment.
• BJP leaders repeatedly raked up the Ram temple issues, Article 370, triple talaq and also prominently mentioned the Pakistani minister's admission of his country's involvement in the Pulwama attack of 2019 that had left 40 CRPF jawans dead. For attacking the RJD, their constant refrain was "jungle raj", "lantern era", "kidnapping industry", slamming the party over its record on law and order. At a rally on October 28, PM Modi had targeted Tejashwi, calling him "Jungle Raj Ke Yuvraj (the crown prince of jungle raj)".
• In his Sunday rallies, the prime minister excoriated the opposition over the Pulwama attack after Pakistan's admission of complicity in it and berated the RJD-Congress combine, calling it an alliance of "double-double yuvraj" (two crown princes) whose sole concern was to protect their "respective thrones". BJP leaders repeatedly raked up the Ram temple issues, Article 370, triple talaq and also prominently mentioned the Pakistani minister's admission of his country's involvement in the Pulwama attack of 2019 that had left 40 CRPF jawans dead.
• The BJP's charge was led by Prime Minister Modi, who addressed seven rallies over two days, including the four on Sunday. Several Union ministers including Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, Giriraj Singh and Anurag Thakur, besides senior party leaders such as BJP chief J P Nadda addressed campaign rallies.
• The last day of campaigning witnessed hectic canvassing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing four back-to-back rallies in support of NDA candidates, and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who is also in the fray in this phase, crisscrossing over a dozen venues.
• According to the Election Commission, more than 2.85 crore voters will decide the electoral fate of 1,463 candidates—1316 male, 146 female and one transgender.
• Of the total 2,85,50,285 voters 1,50,33,034 are male, 1,35,16,271 female and 980 transgender, as per the poll panel data.
• The Election Commission said it has set up a total of 41,362 booths at 18,823 polling stations. Maharajganj constituency has a maximum of 27 candidates in this phase, while the minimum four are from Darauli constituency (SC).