PATNA: Rotor blades beat over Bihar for weeks. Sky turned battleground. By Sunday evening, the helicopter armada fell silent as campaigning for the second phase of assembly elections shut down after an aerial blitz of 450+ sorties - unmatched in scale or cost. Up to 25 helicopters and 12 chartered planes flew daily from Patna airport to 122 constituencies voting across 20 districts on Nov 11, reflecting soaring expenses of modern political warfare. Airport sources said traffic climbed steadily. Phase 1 - held across 121 seats on November 6 - logged over 210 sorties, with 15 to 18 helicopters airborne daily from Oct 25 to November 5. Phase 2 pushed that pace higher from November 1 to 9 - about 23 helicopters a day in the final three days, totalling around 240 sorties. Chartered jets c

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