Bihar assembly elections starting from October 28 is set to enter its first phase. While all the major contesting parties have declared their candidate lists, Congress was the only one not having done so yet. In the recent run up to the state polls, INC has announced the final list of all the candidates participating in second phase, after individually calling them to file their nomination papers. The party asked the contestants to not wait for the declaration of the final list and straight-away fill their nomination papers individually.

The party symbol was distributed among the candidates by Madan Mohan Jha, the party chief, to ensure their participation in filling the nomination papers before declaration of the final list, said Kishor Kumar Jha, Senior Bihar Congress leader. He also claimed that the incident was a rare occurrence and he had not seen anything like this before in his political career of 38 years.

The final list containing names of 49 candidates participating in the second phase of the elections, was declared on the night of October 15, Thursday, a few hours before the nomination poll was about to be closed.

The selected candidates for Congress Bihar elections comprise Subhashini Raj Rao from Bihari Ganj – the daughter of Sharad Yadav who is a leader of Janta Dal (United), Kali Prasad Pandey – former Lok Janshakti Party general secretary from Kuchaikote region, Luv Sinha (Bankipur)– son of Shatrughan Sinha who is a former BJP leader, along with other members such as Engineer Sanjeev Singh from Vaishali, Chandan Yadav from Beldaur, Brajesh Pandey (Govind Ganj), and Praveen Singh Kushwaha from Patna Saheb.

The Congress will be contesting in 21 seats in the first phase of election polls, followed by 24 in the second phase, and 25 in the third phase of assembly polls for Bihar elections 2020.

LJP leader Chirag Paswan slams JD(U)

A lot is going on among the parties regarding the upcoming Bihar state elections. On Wednesday, October 14, Chirag Paswan, the party chief for LJP made a statement, specifically targeting Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, claiming that every vote given to the JD(U) candidates, will result in the migration of children from Bihar.

He said – “Every vote given to JD(U) candidates will force your child to migrate tomorrow. Nitish Kumar needs to put a photo of the Prime Minister. Our thinking aligns with that of the Prime Minister. We share a relationship of heart.” He also said that his party’s motto is not to gain votes based on caste or religion. Releasing their first candidate list while claiming to fight for Bihar first, defines the agenda of LJP of not discriminating any individual on the basis of religion or caste. LJP will be contesting from the seats where JD(U) has placed its candidates and its leadership has also stated that the party will write to the election commission to make sure that only four parties excluding JD(U) can use the photo of the PM in the polls. Paswan also added that he would not be comfortable working under people who denied entry to the Biharis in the state during the Covid-19 triggered nationwide lockdown.  LJP will be contesting from 27 seats in the first phase of Bihar election polls.

Clash between CoBRA and Maoists groups in Gaya, Bihar

On Thursday, October 15 morning at around 4:30 am, one of the units of Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) collided with a group of Maoists in the Chakarbandha forest area in Gaya, Bihar. As per the police, no casualties or injuries had been reported. The police had seized several electronic gadgets and implicated documents from the forest region.

The Maoists had escaped after the clash deep into the forests. Subsequently, security has been tightened in those areas to prevent any such happenings in regards to the upcoming elections starting from October 28.

159 battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has been sent to various locations in the Chakarbandha region as reinforcements, from the Aurangabad district and Palamu district of Jharkhand.

Such Maoist activities are not unusual ahead of elections in Bihar. As per the reports, numerous Maoist poster campaigns were started along with explosions in several remote areas to signify their presence in Gaya. The police claims that these are disruptive ‘anti-social elements’ with the motive of creating fear in minds of the voters to inhibit them from taking part in the upcoming elections.

The author is a student member of the Amity Centre of Happiness.