NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Political guns fall silent in Bihar

The curtain came down Tuesday on the hurly-burly of campaigning for the February 17 second-phase of elections in Bihar.

Prominent among those whose fate will be decided on Thursday when the polling takes place are: the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief, Laloo Prasad Yadav (Raghopur); the president of the Bihar unit of the Congress, Sadanand Singh (Kahalgaon); scam-tainted RJD heavyweight Dhruv Bhagat (Rajmahal); jailed RJD leader Illyas Hussein (Dehri); and the RJD national spokesman, Shivanand Tiwary (Sahapur).

Altogether, 1318 candidates, including 383 women and 509 independents, are in the fray for 108 seats. Over 1,99,17,000 voters will exercise their franchise at 28,356 polling stations.

More than 400 companies of central para-military forces have been deployed in the state. They will be assisted by several companies of the Bihar Military Police, 75,000 men of the District Armed Force and 30,000 Homeguards.

The Election Commission has constituted a standing committee comprising State Electoral Officer A K Basu, Director General of Police K A Jacob and senior officers of central forces to coordinate security arrangements.

While the RJD is contesting 97 seats, its alliance partner - the CPI -M - is in the fray in 11 constituencies.

The Bharatiya Janata Party in its campaign sought ''at least one chance in Bihar.'' Its two electoral partners - the Samata Party and the Janata Dal (United) - made the ''total collapse of the law and order situation'' in the state their main poll plank.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) favoured a ''people's movement for reinstallation of democracy.''

The RJD in its campaign concentrated on exposing the ''game plan of the BJP to divide the state.'' Laloo sees it as an attempt by the BJP ''to covert the mineral rich belt into a colony of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

The party also advocated a 'Greater Jharkhand' comprising tribal dominated districts of Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.

The failure of the state government to hold panchayat elections in the state in the last 20 years also emerged as an important issue. RJD's political adversaries have given this sensitive issue a prominent place in their manifestos.

Though the campaigning was low key, parties leaned heavily on their star leaders. In this department, the BJP outstripped everybody. Among the BJP stalwarts who campaigned in the state were: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Union Home Minister L K Advani, Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley and cinestar-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi too addressed a series of meetings in the state, while the Samajwadi Party president, Mulayam Singh Yadav and the Bahujan Samaj Party chief, Kansi Ram, campaigned extensively in the state.

The 108 constituencies where voting will take place on Thursday are: Basantpur, Goriakothi, Siwan, Mairwa, Darauli, Jiradei, Maharajganj, Raghunathpur, Manjhi, Baniapur, Mashrakh, Taraiya, Marhaura, Jalalpur, Chapra, Garkha, Parsa, Sonepur, Hajipur, Raghopur, Mahnar, Jandaha, Patepur, Mahua, Kalyanpur, Samastipur, Sarairanjan, Mohiuddin Nagar, Dalsingsarai, Vibhutipur, Balia, Matihani, Bagusarai, Barauni, Bachhwara, Cheria-Bariarpur, Bakhri, Barari, Rajmahal, Borio, Barhaiti, Littipara, Pakur, Maheshpur, Madhupur, Deoghar, Jarmundi, Poraihat, Godda, Mahgama, Pirpainti, Kolgaon, Nathnagar, Baghalpur, Gopalpur, Bihpur, Sultanganj, Amarpur, Ghoraia, Banka, Belhar, Katoria, Chakai, Jhajha, Tarapur, Kharagpur, Parbatta, Chautham, Khagaria, Alauli, Monghyr, Amalpur, Suryagrha, Jamui, Sikandara, Lakhsarai, Sheikhpura, Barbigha, Asthawan, Biharsharif, Rajgir, Nalanda, Ishlampur, Hilsa, Chandi, Harnaut, Mokamah, Barh, Bakhitiarpur, Fatwa, Maner, Paliganj, Sandesh, Barhara, Arrah, Shahpur, Brahampur, Buxar, Rajpur, Dumraon, Jagdishpur, Piro, Sahar, Karakat, Bikramganj, Dinar, Nokha and Dehri.

UNI

Assembly Election 2000

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report