For Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi, holding the Assembly polls in Bihar in a fair and peaceful manner remains a challenge, especially in light of the high standards and superb example set by K.J. Rao during the 2005 Assembly polls.
Mr Quraishi, who came to Patna on a two-day visit heading a team of colleagues on Sunday, met representatives of the state’s political parties and heard their concerns about the possible obstacles that could compromise the sanctity of the polls, slated sometime in October-November, or even derail them in the worst conditions. Fears about adequate security in Maoist-affected districts, threats to voters from depressed social sections by politically-charged local musclemen, efforts by the two ruling parties to lure voters by gifts, and the intervention of the festival season around the election schedule were foremost among the concerns raised by leaders from various parties who met Mr Quraishi.
Sources said Mr Quraishi was given to understand that despite the improved socio-economic conditions in Bihar during chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U)-BJP regime, elections in the state could still mean a risky affair unless constant monitoring and adequate security arrangements were put in place. During recent polls, a more focused media attention on the election process had brought to light many instances of preventable insufficiencies and malpractice. “We told the CEC to take concrete steps to ensure that poor and dalit voters are not lured, as has happened often by elements in the ruling parties, with gifts like blankets just before they go to cast their votes. Efforts must be made to make these Assembly polls fairer than those in 2005,” said BSP’s Bihar president Babban Singh Kushwaha after meeting Mr Quraishi.
BJP national vice-president Kiran Ghai placed three demands — that the polls be conducted in a single phase since this is the only Assembly election in the nation this year, that paramilitary forces be deployed across the state instead of home guards in many places, and that constant patrolling of all the boots be made a must.
The RJD and the LJP, Bihar’s main Opposition parties, were concerned over the functioning of the EVMs and urged the CEC to make efforts to minimise EVM malfunctioning.