Bihar polls first after Operation Sindoor: Why PM Modi picked Magadh-Shahabad for his two-day trip to state

PM Modi laid the foundation stone and inaugurated schemes worth more than Rs 48,500 crore in Bikramganj

During his two-day trip to poll-bound Bihar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday addressed a huge crowd at Bikramganj in Rohtas district on Friday.

In Bikramganj, which is at the heart of the Magadh-Shahabad belt, the PM laid the foundation stone and inaugurated schemes worth more than Rs 48,500 crore.

This was PM Modi’s third visit to the poll-bound state since February but the first after India’s strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Pakistan in retaliation to the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed over 26 lives.

The PM said that he had delivered on his promise made during his last visit to Bihar to pursue and punish terrorists and their backers and asserted that the fight against terror was “neither over, nor has it come to a halt”.​

After a stunning victory in the Delhi Assembly polls, the BJP has set its eyes on Bihar, where the elections are expected in October-November. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has set a target of winning more than 225 seats in the 243-member assembly.

However, both in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and 2020 assembly elections, the Magadha-Shahbad belt has not been favourable for the BJP.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the NDA lost 10 seats in Bihar. Seven of them belonged to this belt—Magadh-Shahabadh. Bikramganj falls under Karakat assembly seat which BJP lost to (CPI(ML)L) in 2020. Arun Singh of the (CPI(ML)L) secured 82,700 votes, defeating Rajeshwar Raj of the BJP, who received 64,511 votes.

Shahabad has four Lok Sabha seats—Arrah, Sasaram, Karakat, Buxar—and Magadh has four Lok Sabha seats - Patna, Aurangabad, Gaya, Jehanabad, Nawada. For decades, Shahabad has been a hotbed for social conflicts between landless laborers and large landowners. Several districts in the region have previously been classified as Left-Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected.

There are 55 assembly seats in the Shahabad-Magadh region of which NDA could win only 10 seats. Of these 10 seats, BJP won five, while the remaining were won by allies.

BJP sources told News18 it was found that not only has the past record of the assembly and Lok Sabha seats concerned been unfavorable for the BJP, but there is also an anti-incumbency in the entire Magadh-Shahbad belt of Bihar which includes Bikramganj.

The main battle in Bihar is likely to be between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Mahagathbandhan led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

Bihar has already emerged as a focal point in this year’s Union Budget with fiscal allocations and developmental commitments. With Bihar polls being the first election the country will witness after Operation Sindoor, the stakes remain high.