Bihar Should Take the Lead
in Asserting Electoral Independence

The people of Bihar will go to the polling booths next month, in an Assembly election that will be keenly watched by the entire country. The campaign in Bihar and its outcome will be an important milestone in the country’s electoral history as there have been several complaints about the way the electoral rolls were revised in a Special Intensive Revision that has removed a large number of people from the list.

Though the Opposition parties have raised such complaints and many observers and media organisations also pointed out several lacunae, the focus is now on the conduct of elections, with parties busy with seat sharing discussions and also selection of candidates for various constituencies. It is not clear whether the Opposition parties like the RJD and the Congress and smaller parties in the state would be able to strike a deal between them to avoid splitting of votes. It is common knowledge that any division in the opposition ranks could offer a chance to the ruling combine of BJP and JDU to return to power once again.

The mood of the nation is clearly in favour of a change in administration, and going by the reports from Bihar it appears that the Nitish Kumar Government is now hated by most people, and they are unlikely to win back public trust this time. After some two decades in power, Nitish Kumar has lost his public appeal among the ordinary people of Bihar, who once trusted him as a sincere and committed socialist politician. He is no longer the secular socialist he used to claim himself to be, but only a stooge of the rightwing BJP and Sangh Parivar who actually dictate the terms in the state’s administration. The claims of the country’s vibrant economic development seems not to appeal to the people as most ordinary Biharis are struggling to survive with no good employment opportunities for their children, poor returns from agricultural activities, and haphazard ways in which social security measures are being implemented in the state.

The widespread anger about the present administration has been evident in recent public meetings held all over the state by Opposition leaders over serious issues like massive disenfranchisement in the SIR implemented by the Election Commission, the misrule in the state, and other grave issues. It is to be hoped that the severe public resentment about the present government would result in a resounding victory for the Opposition parties and a thorough setback to the BJP-JDU combine in the November elections.

Elyas Muhammed Thumbe,
general secretary
Social Democratic Party of India