Bihar will go for five-phased election from October 12 to November 5.
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A key ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in poll-bound Bihar has expressed shock at the manner seats were allocated to the allies on Monday.
Under the rules laid down for ensuring that the elections are free and fair, once the poll dates are finalised the Central and State governments can not take any policy decisions which may influence the voters’ choice.
THE coming together of HAM (S), LJP, RLSP and BJP is likely to make things hard for Mahagathbandhan in Nalanda, Nitish Kumar’s home district, also known as the Rae Bareli of Bihar. The World Bank study, in which Bihar ranks 21, has found that six states on top of the table are ruled by NDA. As for Giriraj Singh, the Nawada MP prone to both communal and sexist gaffes, he had smartly edged himself into the photo-opportunity by sitting strategically behind Amit Shah at the same press conference.
The BJP and its allies are taking on the trio of Nitish Kumar, who wants a third term as Chief Minister, the Congress and Lalu Prasad’s party. It won just 22 Assembly seats in the 2010 elections in the 243-member House and four Lok Sabha seats each in the 2009 and 2014 general elections. Unlike 2010 state polls, the electoral honour of Nitish is on test this time in the assembly constituencies against the NDA.
“A formula was agreed on and we were told about the number of seats that we could expect”.
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But if in case, Lalu remains adamant (and sends his son instead Tejaswi) to attend the Champaran rally, it would send a wrong message to the various constituencies the grand alliance is banking upon. “Bihar needs a government which will work along with the centre for the development of the state”, Shah said, while saying ever since JD (U) and BJP parted ways in June 2013, the state headed to the jungle raj. Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, a strong contender for the chief minister’s post if NDA wins, today said people believe that development has become a casualty after Nitish Kumar dumped BJP to join hands with RJD and Congress. “People are comparing his (Kumar’s) current dispensation with what he delivered when BJP was his partner”, he said.
