Poll bell tolls in Bihar from Thursday

Patna : Amid a raging debate over development and a tug of war between the parties to harvest the minority and caste votes, India?s eastern state Bihar goes to a staggered six-phase Assembly polls from Thursday.

The first phase on Thursday (Oct 21) will witness polling in 47 of the total 243 seats in Bihar.

A total 5.5 core electorate in India?s third most populous state would choose their candidates in the six-phased elections spread over Oct and Nov.

The dates on which six-phase polls will be conducted are Oct 21 (47 seats), Oct 24 (45 seats), Oct 28 (48 seats), Nov 1 (42 seats), Nov 9 (35 seats) and Nov 20 (26 seats).

There are 38 SC reserved and two ST reserved seats.

The counting of vote is on Nov 24 while the term of the Bihar Assembly is to end on Nov 27.

The big fight of this election is between the ruling alliance of Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) while Congress is the third force which also campaigned hard fielding their top crowd-pulling leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Some Left parties like Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (Liberation) or CPI-ML (Liberation) , led by Dipankar Bhattacharya, also wield some strength in certain regions.

The run up to the first phase was some fireworks with the Congress leaders systematically attacking Nitish Kumar, who was credited with a turnaround of the state known for its mafia and grinding poverty, on the development front itself.

Congress leaders said Nitish Kumar could not utilize the central funds and often tried to take the credit by using the central funds as state resources.

Kumar in turn slammed the Congress and asked the Prime Minister for a public debate on the issue.

?Sir, I will like to know from you the veracity of your charge….it is nothing but to mislead the people,?? Nitish Kumar said after the Prime Minister said Nitish Kumar misled people on central funds.

BJP, a partner of the ruling Janata Dal-Unitted (JD-U)-led alliance, brought its stalwart L K Advani for campaigning.

Wary of losing Muslim votes, Nitish Kumar, however, distanced himself from the BJP leaders. Muslim votes might tilt the balance of power in at least 60 seats in Bihar.

Nitish Kumar’s stiff opposition to the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP leader Narendra Modi is well known and he kept away from the BJP rallies too, but after the Ayodhya verdict and BJP’s announcement for a Ram Temple put Kumar in a sticky wicket so far minority votes are concerned.

Former chief minister Lalu Prasad, who is eying the Muslim votes in the changed post-Ayodhya circumstances, did not spare Congress either, with much of the anger directed towards the Gandhis for abandoning him despite his Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)?s support to the Congress government at the centre time and again.

He said Congress is a spent force in Bihar and responsible for the rise of the JD-U-BJP alliance.

Interestingly, incumbent Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar as well as his arch rival and former chief minister Lalu Prasad have decided not to enter the poll fray this time.

Lalu, however, has nominated his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi to fight the elections and rule by proxy if she wins.

According to political analysts while development is an issue with the achievement of Nitish Kumar, something that earned him recognition in international media, religion will play a role after the Ayodhya verdict of the Allahabad High Court going apparently in favour of the Hindus.

Experts said the cold response of the Congress to the Ayodhya verdict may affect its Muslim vote bank.

But even with development becoming a buzzword in Bihar politics, it is not that this election is free from criminals.

According to an analysis of candidates contesting first phase of Bihar elections in October by the National Election Watch, 154 candidates (35%) are those with self declared pending criminal charges.

Out of these 154 candidates, 98 candidates (22%) have declared serious IPC charges like murder and attempt to murder charges against them.

Three candidates (one from BJP and two independents) have declared that they have pending cases related to rape.

All major parties gave tickets to candidate with pending criminal cases. BJP ? 67%, LJP -63%, JD(U) – 46%, INC ? 43%, RJD ? 39%, and BSP 38% .

At least 299 candidates (67%) have not declared their PAN card details.