Counting is underway for the Banka seat in Bihar, where incumbent Ramnarayan Mandal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is facing Sanjay Kumar of the Communist Party of India (CPI).
Polling for the constituency took place on November 11 as part of Phase 2 of the Bihar Assembly Elections, with final results expected on November 14. This contest is a crucial bellwether for the state's political direction, given Banka's recent history of high-stakes, unpredictable outcomes.
The Banka constituency, one of the 243 seats that determines the overall state mandate, is currently represented by the BJP's Ramnarayan Mandal. Mandal is seeking his third consecutive win, having first secured the seat in 2015. His victory in the 2020 elections was decisive, where he defeated the Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) Javed Iqbal Ansari by a significant margin of 16,828 votes, reaffirming the BJP's hold against the traditionally strong RJD presence in the area.
In the 2025 contest, Mandal (BJP) is being directly challenged by Sanjay Kumar (CPI). While the RJD and Janata Dal (United) (JDU) also maintain influence in the broader region, the two main contenders for the seat are the BJP and CPI nominees.
The constituency's political dynamics have been volatile. While the RJD once enjoyed a stronghold, the BJP's consecutive wins in 2015 and 2020 have turned Banka into a keenly observed battleground. In 2020, the total electorate stood at 1,59,271 voters, with a participation rate of 62.59%.
With the Model Code of Conduct in force during the campaigning phase, the focus now shifts entirely to the vote count, which will reveal whether the BJP can maintain its consecutive winning streak or if the CPI can successfully mount a challenge to the established political order.
Live Vote Counting
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