GAYA/AURANGABAD/PATNA, Nov. 11 -- The entry of Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party in Bihar has made it an intense triangular contest with the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Opposition Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) to woo millions of young voters. The poll strategist-turned-politician's ability to attract the youth will not only decide his political future but also impact the fate of the two alliances. Across Bihar, where polling in the second and final phase will be held on November 11, Jan Suraaj has evoked curiosity among the young and educated voters. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity among the youth and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav's, who turned 36 on Sunday, rise to prominence will also influence the young voters. According to the annual electoral roll revision data from January 2024, 47.01% registered voters in Bihar are under 40. The recently concluded special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has not disclosed age-wise data. Kishor's party believes the 18-28 age category does not trust the legacy of a political party, be it BJP, JD(U), RJD or Congress, and therefore it is willing to experiment. "Change is not switching sides. Change is switching the frame. Our expectation from the youth segment is simple: if 5% of Bihar's youth votes differently, the entire election map will look different," Anil Kumar Singh, Jan Suraaj's nominee from Supaul, said. Political analysts maintain that a high youth participation in the ongoing polls can emerge as a deciding factor, apart from the obvious caste pyramids and alliance arithmetic. "It (Poll results) will be decided by the velocity of youth anger - and which camp converts that anger into either hope, or revenge," Kaushalendra Priyadarshi, a Patna-based political observer, said. Sitting in his makeshift poll office, Rituraj Samdarshi, campaigning for his father Hemant Kumar, a Jan Suraaj candidate from Barchatti: "We have not been able to reach all areas. But we have reached out to 99% of the young voters. We are banking on them." For Tejashwi Yadav, wooing young voters especially those who are born in this millennium can help the RJD offset any possible consolidation of women in favour of chief minister Nitish Kumar. "When I was young, I saw how my father's earnings were looted every week. But my children won't understand this," Arun Kumar, a retired BSF jawan who runs a garage, said, in an apparent reference to the Lalu Prasad's regime. For observers, the biggest undercurrent in the record turnout in the first phase was not merely participation, but the mood inside the booths. On November 6, voting across 121 seats in 18 districts logged the highest turnout in decades - but the most telling visual at several booths in Begusarai, Muzaffarpur, Nawada, Samastipur, Sheikhpura and Khagaria was the youth queue. Dinesh Yadav, a 23-year-old first-time voter studying at a private engineering college in Muzaffarpur said: "Hum log ke liye sabka manifesto ek hi jaisa hai - ya to naukri ka sapna ya loan ka sapna. Kaun dega sach mein? (For us, all manifestos look the same - either a dream of jobs or a dream of loans. Who will deliver?). Now we want implementers." Bihar minister and BJP nominee from Chhatapur (Supaul) Neeraj Kumar Singh Bablu said women's schemes have indirectly benefited young households. PM's skill push and renewed apprenticeship ecosystem give youth a chance, and Nitish Kumar's governance "continuity" gives stability to a state that was once synonymous with collapse, he added. "The new generation is no longer ashamed to say that instead of instability, they'll support delivery. We are sure that Gen-Z will reward stability, because their families need stability." RJD believes this is the most anti-establishment youth voter in two decades, who is angered by paper leaks, vacancies that never get filled, and job ads that turn out to be procedural. "Our target category is not emotional. They calculate coldly. They check under which government exams were conducted, and under which they got stayed. Our pitch to the youth is: you must punish those who wasted your time," RJD spokesperson Mrityunjai Tiwari said....