A fortnight-long campaigning for the by-polls in Bihar came to an end on Sunday with candidates launching one-to-one contact drive to mobilise votes in their respective constituencies.
By-polls will be held in 11 Assembly constituencies in Bihar in the second and final phase on September 15.
The star campaigners for the opposition RJD were its chief Lalu Prasad and his LJP counterpart Ram Vilas Paswan, who addressed several election meetings to mobilise support for the by-polls, which they claimed, would be a referendum on the functioning of the Nitish Kumar government.
The campaigning saw a bitter war of words between the Opposition leaders and the Chief Minister in the light of the summon issued by the Barh court against Mr. Kumar in connection with murder of Congress activist Sitaram Singh at Pandarak in Barh in 1991.
The Patna High Court later stayed the entire criminal proceedings against Mr. Kumar and called for the records from the subordinate court on the complaint filed by Ashok Singh, charging Mr. Kumar with involvement in the case.
Mr. Prasad and Mr. Paswan had also demanded resignation of Chief Minister in wake of the summon.
Mr. Kumar, however, rubbished the charge saying the complaint was “stage-managed” by his political opponents.
