Bihar voted in three phasesUnion Minister Prakash Javadekar Friday clarified that the BJP has no links with LJP and said he is confident that their alliance with JD(U), HAM-S and VIP will win 3/4th of the Assembly seats in Bihar polls. Alleging that Chirag Paswan is only trying to create confusion by making misleading statements, Javadekar said his efforts will not bear any fruit. In an interview with The Indian Express, Paswan had said the fight between the LJP and the BJP is a friendly one. “If the BJP wins, we will hail it. If we win, we will support the BJP. I want to see a BJP-led LJP government in Bihar,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold 12 rallies in poll-bound Bihar, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who is overseeing the party’s election preparations, said on Friday. “On the 23rd, Modi will hold rallies in Sasaram, Gaya and Bhagalpur. On the 28th, he will first visit Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur and Patna,” he added.
BJP president J P Nadda, who is scheduled to hold three rallies today, spoke on how the “political culture” has changed ever since Modi came to power. “Before the 2014 elections, political leaders used to accuse each other of inciting hatred, casteism and breaking society, in their speeches. But after the election of PM Modi, the political culture has changed. Now, leaders have to show their work report card,” he told the crowd.
For the past few months Gudiya Saha has been following the news on actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. “But that will not decide whom I vote for in the elections,” says the 36-year-old who lives in Mumbai’s Versova area with her husband and three children. During the lockdown, says Saha, her electrician husband, like many from the state in the western suburbs of the city, found it very difficult to earn a living. “We had to depend on the ration being distributed. We have no savings left. For me that is a bigger concern than whom to vote for,” says Saha, sitting in her small home in a chawl that has migrant families from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other districts of Maharashtra. Many in the neighbourhood work in the film industry.
AS Lok Janshakti Party chief Chirag Paswan continues reiterating his admiration for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ties with the National Democratic Alliance at the Centre, even while attacking the JD(U) and Nitish Kumar, the BJP Friday stepped up its efforts to distance itself from him.
“Chirag Pawan wants to create confusion. In Bihar, the BJP, JD(U), VIP (Vikassheel Insaan Party) and HAM (Hindustani Awam Morcha) are in the NDA. We do not have any alliance with the LJP nor is it a part of the NDA. Chirag Paswan should not be confused nor spread confusion,” BJP general secretary in-charge of Bihar Bhupender Yadav tweeted.
The larger Harnaut assembly constituency is as close to a Nitish Kumar bastion as they come. It was from here that he won his first assembly election in 1985, on his third attempt, and then again in 1995. For the past three terms, there has been a JDU MLA, Harinarayan Singh, who is contesting the elections again, in a seat that goes to the polls in the second phase on November 3.
On Thursday morning, right next to the blacktopped road, and close to a temple, a group of six elders of the village sit and discuss politics. They are all Kurmi, but believe “only a fool would vote for anyone else” but Nitish Kumar.
BJP Begusarai MP and Union minister of state Giriraj Singh on Friday accused the Congress of fielding a “sympathiser” of Mohammad Ali Jinnah from the Jale seat in Darbhanga district, and asked whether the Mahagathbandhan supports the ideology of the Pakistan leader. Singh also supported recent remarks of another Union minister of state from Bihar, Nityanand Rai, a few days ago that the state would become “a shelter for terrorists” if the RJD was voted to power.
Talking to reporters at the BJP office here, Singh said the Grand Alliance should explain its position on the candidature of Maskoor Usmani. “Let us know if the Congress’s Jale candidate, Usmani, supports Jinnah? Will Sharjeel Imam (of Jehanabad origin, who is in jail on, among others, sedition charges), will be the Grand Alliance’s star campaigner?”
BJP national spokeperson Sambit Patra too targeted Chirag Paswan for his remarks. "Chirag ji is creating confusion to secure his own political existence," he said.
Senior BJP leader Bhupender Yadav accused Paswan of practising "politics of lies", pointing out that he had been praising the Bihar government in February this year. "Chirag should not either live in illusion or nurse any illusion or spread illusion," Yadav said.
LJP chief Chirag Paswan asserted on Friday he is Narendra Modi's "Hanuman" and that the prime minister lives in his heart. Paswan's statement came on a day when he was excoriated by Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, who called the LJP leader a "vote Katua" (splitter of votes) and accused him of trying to create a confusion by harping on his equations with senior leaders of the saffron party. "The prime minister lives in my heart....I am like his Hanuman. If they (his critics) want, they can prise open my heart and see that. I don't need to use the prime minister's photograph," Paswan said. Paswan faced stinging criticism from Javadekar who said,"We want to make it clear that we have no relations (with LJP), and we do not like this politics of spreading confusion." The LJP is nothing more than "vote katua" and it will not be able to make much impact, he said.--PTI
Denied a Congress ticket for the Bihar Assembly polls, Sarvesh Tiwari, the general secretary of Nirbhaya Trust, has accused the party of ignoring calls to not give tickets to people accused of crimes against women, news agency PTI reported. In a letter to Sonia Gandhi, Tiwari said that at a time when the nation has been left in shock by the alleged gangrape and death of a Dalit woman in Hathras, the Congress has given a ticket to Brajesh Pandey, an accused in a rape case. Pandey has been named as the candidate for the Congress from Govindganj, from where Tiwari was also seeking a ticket.
Responding to the accusation, Pandey rejected the charge and alleged that Tiwari was making the allegation as he was sour over being denied a poll ticket in Bihar.
ON PAPER, apprehension among a section of the Congress of the RJD giving it a bad bargain in the 70 seats allotted to it as part of the Mahagathbandhan, seems to be justified. The constituencies the party is contesting from finally became evident Friday evening when it released its list at the end of some hard-nosed negotiations with the RJD.
Of the 70 seats, the Congress has not won 45 in the last two decades, with 12 won by either the BJP or its ally JD(U). In 18 of the 70, even Congress partner RJD has not won in 20 years. Twenty-three of the seats in the Congress’s share are those it had won last time. It has had to cede four seats that it won in 2015 to allies and has got two constituencies from where the RJD had won. Read full story by Manoj C G
Political culture has undergone a drastic change under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with parties and governments presenting their report cards during elections instead of leaders promoting casteism and hatred through their speeches, BJP chief J P Nadda said on Friday. Addressing an election rally here, Nadda also listed out a slew of development measures launched by the Modi government for Bihar. "Before 2014, political leaders used to hurl accusations at each other...they promoted casteism, enmity, and tried to break society through their speeches. Political culture of the country has changed since Narendra Modi came to power. Now they are showing to people the report card of the work they have done," he said. --PTI
Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) releases a list of 26 candidates for 2nd phase of Bihar polls.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar Friday clarified that the BJP has no links with LJP and said he is confident that their alliance with JD(U), HAMS and VIP will win 3/4th of the Assembly seats in Bihar polls, reported PTI. Alleging that Chirag Paswan is only trying to create confusion by making misleading statements, Javadekar said his efforts will not bear any fruit. In an interview with The Indian Express, Paswan had said the fight between the LJP and the BJP is a friendly one. “If the BJP wins, we will hail it. If we win, we will support the BJP. I want to see a BJP-led LJP government in Bihar,” he said.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar Friday alleged that Chirag Paswan is trying to mislead people by taking names of senior BJP leaders. "Chirag Paswan has chosen a separate path in Bihar, he is trying to mislead people by taking names of senior BJP leaders. We don't have any B or C team. NDA will get three-fourth majority. Chirag's party will be left as a vote cutter party," he said.
Speaking on the contributions of the Modi government for the state, Nadda said: "I want to tell the people of Bihar that not only did Modi give a package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore but also an additional assistance of Rs 40 lakh crore. The people must know about the efforts that have gone into creating these broad roads and developing the education system."
Addressing the gathering, Nadda said: "Before the 2014 elections, political leaders used to accuse each other of inciting hatred, casteism and breaking society, in their speeches. But after the election of PM Modi, the political culture has changed. Now, leaders have to show their work report card."
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who is overseeing the party's poll preparations in the state, told reporters that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold 12 rallies in Bihar this time. "On the 23rd, he will hold rallies in Sasaram, Gaya and Bhagalpur. On the 28th, he will first visit Darbhanga, then Muzaffarpur followed by Patna.
Taking a swipe at the RJD, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said: "While I was crossing the RJD office, I was trying to find the image of legacy but couldn't see it anywhere. Speaking of legacy will remind us of the loot and corruption days. Can you hide the legacy by hiding the image?"
Popularly known as Pappu Yadav, former Madhepura MP and Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) head Rajesh Ranjan has always been up against three limitations — having Lalu Prasad as the bigger Yadav leader (since the late 1980s), the 1998 CPI(M) leader Ajit Sarkar’s murder case in which he was acquitted, and his limited influence beyond the Kosi region of Supaul, Saharsa, Madhepura, and the adjoining Seemanchal belt of Purnea. For the coming Assembly polls, Ranjan, who formed the JAP in 2015, has forged a front called the Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA) with Chandrashekhar Azad’s Azad Samaj Party and him as the CM candidate. This was just a few days after Upendra Kushwaha was declared CM nominee of another recently-formed alliance, the Grand Democratic Secular Front (comprising the RLSP, AIMIM, BSP and two other smaller parties). Click here to read more.
After its experiment to generously hand out seats to alliance partners and contest on only 19 seats in the state in last year’s Lok Sabha elections flopped, the Rashtriya Janata Dal has decided to not concede much ground in the Assembly elections this year. The party is preparing to contest on maximum number of seats and play to its strengths. After drawing a blank in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the RJD cannot afford to take any more chances. The party is contesting on 144 seats this year, leaving 70 seats for the Congress and 29 for the three Left parties. The RJD has also reached out to its cadres across the state, impressing upon them the need to retain supremacy in the alliance. When Lalu was at his peak, the RJD enjoyed the backing of most OBC groups, Muslims and Dalits. Over the years, Nitish has managed to split that with his EBC-Mahadalit focus. Click here to read more.
As part of its "Ka Kiye Ho [What have you done] online campaign, the Congress in Bihar today said: "Whether it is the BJP government at the Centre or the BJP-JD[U] government here, both of them do not have anything to offer besides lies and empty promises. Today, 50% of the families do have gas pipelines in their house."
On his son Luv Sinha's selection from the Bankipur seat in Patna, former Lok Sabha MP Shatrughan Sinha today tweeted: "On people's demand in general and our own party Congress's command in particular, the most deserving, actor, filmmaker, courageous, positive and energetic Luv Sinha makes his foray into politics. 'Bihari Babu's son Luv's direct entry for filing nomination as 'Bihar putr' from our Jai Bihar! Jai Hind!"
BJP president J P Nadda will address the public in Hisua and Barahat districts of Bihar today.
In a fresh attack on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said: "He [Nitish] is tired and cannot handle the state. He doesn't want to talk about development, unemployment, education, health infrastructure and poverty. He says Bihar is a landlocked state hence, industries can not be set up resulting in no job creation."
The Lok Janshakti Party’s national president Chirag Paswan has adopted a careful strategy in the Bihar elections so far. He is friendly with the BJP but is not part of the National Democratic Alliance in the state. After the death of his father and LJP patriarch Ram Vilas Paswan, it remains to be seen if Chirag can capitalise on the sympathy factor in the state. While most sections which voted for his father are expected to remain intact, Chirag may also get the support of upper castes on seats where he has fielded upper caste candidates. The LJP is contesting 143 seats in the state, with its candidates taking on JD(U) nominees in most constituencies. So far, the BJP has been walking a tightrope in Bihar. It is trying to keep the JD(U) and Nitish Kumar in good humour, even as speculation is rife that Chirag’s experiment of breaking away from the NDA has the BJP’s support. Click here to read more.
Even though all political parties claim to be seeking votes on the plank of development, underlying their candidate lists are careful caste considerations involving their core constituencies, plus EBCs. Nearly a quarter of the candidates in both the RJD and JD(U) lists, 24% and 26% respectively, belong to Extremely Backward Classes. The EBCs form about 25% of the population in Bihar, and are considered floating voters. Of the 144 candidates the RJD has put up as part of Grand Alliance, Yadavs comprise 40% (58 candidates), and Muslims 12% (17 candidates) — the bedrock of the party’s MY plank. The NDA is also eyeing the Yadav votes with 17 candidates in the JD(U)’s list of 115 and 16 in BJP’s list of 110. This means Yadavs, who comprise about 14% of the population, comprise 91 of the candidates announced so far. The JD(U) has fielded 11 Muslim candidates, and the BJP none. It had fielded one Muslim candidate in the last Assembly polls. Click here to read more.
Four months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan from Khagaria in poll-bound Bihar, the Railways has so far engaged around 2,402 returning migrants from the state in projects worth Rs 610 crore, senior officials told The Indian Express. With Railway work among the 25 listed in the scheme for returning migrants to get jobs in their home states, the move has so far yielded 3.5 lakh mandays worth of work in Bihar since June 20, when the Abhiyaan was launched, according to official data. Overall, the data show that Railways engaged 12,000 labourers, created over 12.4 lakh mandays worth of work and paid out over Rs 2,500 crore to contractors involved in 170 segments of work in Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan. Click here to read more.
National parties have seen a steady rise in vote share in Bihar during the last four Assembly elections — almost entirely powered by the BJP. After doubling its vote share, the BJP is now the only national party to have hit double digits in Bihar, as an analysis of election data shows. Since Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in November 2000, the state has seen four Assembly elections — February and October in 2005, 2010 and 2015. The combined vote share of the six national parties to have contested in these Bihar elections — the BJP, BSP, CPI, CPM, Congress and NCP — went up significantly from 23.57% in 2005 (February) to 35.6% in 2015. Click here to read more.
Taking a swipe at rival RJD for coming up with "new map" of development for Bihar in the election, BJP president J P Nadda on Thursday suggested that sons should know how their father ran the party rule in the state. He appealed to the people not to have any "confusion" and look back at the track record of the party which is coming up with "lofty" promises if voted to power.
Addressing election rallies at Karakat and Aurangabad, the BJP chief said NDA under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Bihar "freed the state from jungle-raj." "The sons who are coming up with new map of development should know how their father ran the party government in the past in Bihar when criminals had an upper hand," Nadda said without taking names of the RJD supremo sons.
The Congress on Thursday released its second list of 49 candidates for the Bihar Assembly elections, fielding Shatrughan Sinha's son Luv Sinha from Bankipur and Sharad Yadav's daughter Subhashini Yadav from Bihariganj seats. The party also nominated former MP Kali Pandey from Kuchaikote assembly constituency. Both Subhashini and Kali Pandey had joined the Congress only on Wednesday. Pandey has switched over to the Congress from the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).
The Congress party on Thursday announced a list of 49 candidates for the upcoming assembly polls. Madan Mohan Tiwari will contest from Bettiah, while former vice-president for PCC Bihar, Pravin Singh Kushwaha, will contest from Patna Sahib. Here's the full list:
Continuing to hit ground with physical rallies at four places, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Thursday attacked rival RJD, saying unlike them politics was not a "business" for him but a means to serve the people. He also asserted that soon after taking over reins of the state in 2005 the NDA government ended "jungle raj" and established rule of law in the state. He kept his focus on the RJD which is spearheading Grand Alliance and continued to attack his bete noire Lalu Prasad. Kumar is keeping his campaign narrative around "15 years vs 15 years", appealing voters to compare performance of the NDA and the RJD regimes that spent an equal amount of 15 years.
J P Nadda at Aurangabad: "The NDA government has done the work to get rid of RJD's misrule. The state, which previously used to run on thievery, now works on law and order. I am telling you all this so that even the 'son' should know how his father ruled".
Nitish Kumar in Palliganj: We serve everyone and work for their development, while some people only want the development for themselves. Bihar was at the highest level in the past and we want to take it back to the same heights in future.
Nitish Kumar in Palliganj: "To make Bihar self-reliant, we have started '7 Nishchay 2'. In every district, by creating mega skill training centers, youths will be trained in new technology so that they get employment and they also give employment to others."
"Now we will not have to order anything from outside, but the goods made here will now go out. For the employment of the youth, more and more industries will be set up, they will increase the income of the youth and will give employment to them."
Nitish Kumar in Palliganj: Some people do not talk on facts. The central government published in 2018 that despite large population, Bihar is ranked 23rd in terms of crime.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President Asaduddin Owaisi talks about the ‘disarray’ in the BJP-JD(U) and RJD-Congress alliances, why time is ripe for a new front like he promises, and the issues the AIMIM will raise in its campaign. Read the full interview here
Clearing the air on his parting ways with the JD(U) ahead of Bihar polls, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president Chirag Paswan Thursday said it had "nothing to do" with sharing of seats. In an interview with news agency PTI, Paswan said his party had fought the Lok Sabha polls last year in alliance with the JD(U), but the latter worked against LJP candidates in the elections in violation of the coalition dharma.
J P Nadda in Karakat: In Lalu Raj, only 24 per cent of the area in Bihar was electrified, today it is 100 per cent. Then Bihar's budget was Rs 24,000 crores. Today the budget is Rs 2.20 lakh crores. This is the development of Bihar.
J P Nadda in Karakat: Nadda In elections, people are lured by making big promises, many times people fall in the loop as to whom to vote for. Never vote on the basis of what the candidate and his party will do later. Votes should be given on the basis of what the candidate and his party have done so far.
Taking a jibe at RJD, BJP president J P Nadda Thursday said the Tejashwi Yadav-led party, which now promises to bring new development to Bihar, should thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for teaching them the meaning of development. Nadda said PM Modi has changed the culture of politics of caste, religion and vote bank in the country.
While lesser known than Lalu Prasad, Nitish Kumar or Ram Vilas Paswan, Upendra Singh, like them, learned his political ropes from Jayaprakash Narayan and Karpoori Thakur. The boy from Jandaha, Vaishali, was taken by Thakur under his tutelage. During his graduation days, Upendra even stayed with the two-time Bihar CM, who knew his social-worker father Muneshwar Singh very well. In subsequent years, Upendra, too, would host Thakur at his Jandaha home.
Upendra Kushwaha was once Nitish’s chosen one, a suave leader with a good caste pedigree. Till his ambition got the better of him. Read more
Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi is holding a rally at Jamui. On Wednesday, Modi said that the Opposition does not have issues to raise in Bihar. “They talk of Covid-19 and today it’s completely controlled here. Only 961 people have died while Congress-ruled Maharashtra has 41,000 deaths. Almost 1 lakh people are tested every day and beds are lying vacant,” Modi said.
We have curated a short profile of Sushil Modi. Read here
The Lok Janshakti Party’s national president Chirag Paswan has adopted a careful strategy in the Bihar elections so far. He is friendly with the BJP but is not part of the National Democratic Alliance in the state. After the death of his father and LJP patriarch Ram Vilas Paswan, it remains to be seen if Chirag can capitalise on the sympathy factor in the state. While most sections which voted for his father are expected to remain intact, Chirag may also get the support of upper castes on seats where he has fielded upper caste candidates.
The LJP is contesting 143 seats in the state, with its candidates taking on JD(U) nominees in most constituencies. Read more
Through famous Poet Suryakant Tripathi Nirala's poem, former Bihar DGP Gupteshwar Pandey, who did not get ticket for the upcoming Bihar polls, indicates his story in Bihar politics has not ended yet. Pandey, who had opted for VRS four months before he was to retire and joined the JD(U), did not get a ticket to contest the Bihar Assembly polls. He had looked set to contest from his hometown Buxar. But, the seat, held by the Congress in the outgoing Assembly, went to the BJP quota in the seat-sharing arrangement within NDA.
Sources said Pandey went “overboard” in the Sushant Singh Rajput case and that could have hurt his chances to get a ticket. Pandey dismissed such theories. “It is true that I had taken VRS to contest polls. Lekin samikaran nahi bana (calculations did not work out). I am a loyal soldier of JD (U). If JD (U) and BJP want me to campaign in this election, I would do so,” he said. The former DGP also defended his stand in the Sushant case. “I have no regrets about the stand I took in the case.”
In a Bihar election that has seen several big names pass on the baton, Sharad Yadav’s daughter Wednesday entered the fray. With Yadav ailing and his fledgling Loktantrik Janata Dal finding no takers, Subhashini Yadav joined the Congress in Delhi — marking a full circle for her 75-year-old father’s politics built on anti-Congressism.
Subhashini could be fielded from Bihariganj in Madhepura district, her father’s pocketborough. Sources said the Congress could also give a ticket to former BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha’s son Luv from a seat in Patna. An MBA, Subhashini told The Indian Express, “I worship my father. Whatever his ideology is my ideology and at this point… the opposition is united against communal forces… My father has been a part of the Mahagathbandhan since 2017.”
Bihar congress has come up with another rap 'Ka Kiye ho' to attack JD(U). In case you missed, the BJP and JD(U) Tuesday released campaign songs in Bhojpuri titled ‘Bihar mein ee baa’ (This is in Bihar) to highlight achievements of the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in the state. Hours after BJP’s song, the Congress shot back with its own version of ‘ka-ba’. The party alleged that the state has become a hub of corruption under the “corrupt alliance of JD(U) and NDA”.
As Bihar prepares to vote in the midst of a pandemic, the plight of labourers, many of whom have returned from metros in the past six months, is an important election issue.
With little work in their villages, many of the intra-state migrants at the chowk have come from Masaurhi, Lakhisarai, and even Darbhanga, over 100 km away. As the conversation drifts towards elections, a majority of the labourers say they voted for Nitish Kumar in 2015. The workers here are also unsure if they will vote in the elections. “Travel back home costs Rs 600. When you are earning only five days in a month, there is simply no money. Our room rent in Patna is Rs 3,000 per month; Rs 4,000 if it has a kitchen. None of us can afford to go back,” Kashinath said.
In his address at Jamui, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar highlighted his government's achievements in the law and order sector, education sector, and environment sector. "Some of our achievements have also made noise globally. We have highlighted the environmental achievements in the state at the United Nations. Where you want to take the state ahead depends on you. We can either move ahead or go back 15 years," Kumar said.
The extent of Muslim alienation from the Modi-led government at the Centre threatens to rub off on Nitish. The JD(U) that once had leaders like Ali Anwar, Dr Ejaj Ali and Dr Shakil Ahmed in its ranks now has virtually no big Muslim names apart from MLC and former Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Rasool Baliyawi.
With 10 of the 115 constituencies it is contesting as a part of the NDA falling in Muslim-dominated areas, the JD(U) has been highlighting steps taken for the benefit of the community in the past 15 years of the Nitish government. The 10 seats are Sikta (candidate Firoz Ahmed Khursheed); Sheohar (Sarfuddin); Araria (Shagufta Azeem); Thakurganj (Naushad Alam); Kochadhaman (Mohammed Mujahid); Amour (Saba Zafar); Darbhanga Rural (Faraz Fatmi); Kanti (Mohammed Jamal); Marhoura (Altaf Raju); and Mahua (Aasma Parbeen).
Appealing voters to support the JD(U) government, Nitish Kumar said, "Everyone knows the fate of the state in the last 15 years. There was no development, no law and order in the state. In 2005 you gave us the opportunity to work for you. Till today, we have strived to work for you. Bihar is the first state to give 50 per cent reservation to women in Panchyati Raj institutions. Did the RJD do any of this"
Ahead of Kumar's rally in Patna, the JD(U) highlights the government's achievements in the state in the last 15 years.
An old man with long beard says he will shave if Tejashwi Yadav becomes the Chief Minister of Bihar. Tejashwi says it's just a month away.
In the halls of Gyan Bhawan in Patna, a swanky convention centre usually used for exhibitions and conferences, the music is the continued on closest to normal that it will get for the next few days. Because, with just a fortnight left for the Bihar elections, it is here that a mammoth exercise to create Covid kits is taking place — for voters, polling personnel and security staff.
If the scale of this exercise — from trucks bringing in material to men unloading and loading crates — underlines the challenge in conducting an election during a pandemic, senior Health officials said even to get to this stage has been a logistical feat. Another aspect that needs to be addressed, officials said, is the disposal of used material.
Sudhir Kumar, General Manager, Bihar Medical Services & Infrastructure Corporation Ltd (BMSICL), said the women volunteers — NGO personnel, ASHA workers and mid-day meal staff — come in two shifts beginning 8 am, and ending 12 hours later. “300 come in the first shift, and 200 in the second. The biggest challenge is the pace cannot drop,” Kumar said. Every volunteer gets Rs 220 extra per day, with food and travel to and from the venue provided for.
A political storm has erupted in poll-bound Bihar after Union minister Nityanand Rai told an election rally that the state would become a safe haven for terrorists from Kashmir if the opposition RJD-led coalition succeeded in forming the next government.
The Congress, a constituent of the Grand Alliance, hit back claiming that the BJP has the habit of dragging Pakistan and Kashmir into the scenario whenever it faces a tough challenge in Bihar polls. The RJD asserted that it is a ploy of the saffron party to divert public attention from the "misrule" of the NDA.