The fear of Maoists has forced about 1,000 candidates for Bihar’s panchayat polls to withdraw their nominations and many other aspirants to not file nomination papers at all in two southern districts after the left-wing rebels threatened dire consequences if they participated in the democratic exercise.
Instead of the usual pre-poll activities like noisy campaigns and colourful posters, many parts of Gaya, Aurangabad and Muzaffarpur districts are witnessing a creepy silence as the panchayat polls are set to begin across Bihar on April 20. Following the diktats of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) earlier this week, about 1,000 candidates who had filed nomination papers for various posts in the panchayat bodies withdrew from the polls in the three districts.
“People certainly want to stay alive instead of getting killed for trying to contest in an election. The security situation here does not give us confidence,” said Mahendra Prasad of Sherghati in Maoist-affected Gaya district. He withdrew his name a few days after filing his nomination papers for the election of mukhia (village head).
The Maoists have raided the homes of several candidates and beaten them up for daring to contest the elections. Former mukhia Janardan Thakur of Muzaffarpur is currently in a Patna hospital after he was attacked by the rebels for seeking re-election. Lakshman Baitha, father-in-law of a woman candidate from Gaya, was beaten up by the rebels. Posters have been put up by the Maoists in these districts to warn the people.
“We had assured the people that full security measures would be in place to ensure peaceful polls. we had asked the candidates to complain against any pressure from anywhere. But nobody complained so far,” said Gaya SSP Vinay Kumar. This is the first time so many candidates have pulled themselves away from the panchayat polls in Bihar. Bihar DGP Neelmani, however, said security forces were ready to ensure peaceful and fair polls.