New Delhi: Indian politics has never witnessed such a peculiar situation in recent times where the ruling parties are in favour of holding elections, while the opposition is against it.
This particular peculiarity is playing out in Bihar, where elections are scheduled to be held later this year.
While the opposition RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal) and the Congress have expressed strong reservations against holding elections in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, the ruling JD(U) and BJP want the elections to be held on time. Besides the opposition, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), an ally of the NDA in Bihar, has also joined the opposition chorus and wants the elections to be postponed.
While the BJP has said the opposition wants the election to be postponed as it’s scared of losing, the latter has questioned why the ruling party wants to conduct the polls when people are dying.
The BJP has also said it’s for the Election Commission to decide on the matter now, but the party is ready for elections.
While the EC is yet to announce the dates for the Bihar polls, it has already started preparations. It has also said there are no plans to defer the elections.
Bihar is, meanwhile, witnessing a surge in Covid-19 cases, which prompted the Nitish Kumar government to announce a lockdown until 31 July. Rural areas are exempted from the lockdown. As of Friday afternoon, the state has 21,764 total cases and 197 deaths.
This apart, as many as 25 BJP leaders, including organisational secretary Nagendra Nath, BJP state president Sanjay Jaiswal, general secretary Devesh Kumar and vice-president Radhamohan Sharma, tested positive for Covid earlier this week.
BJP’s Patna MP Ramkripal Yadav and several party vice-presidents are in self-quarantine as they came in contact with Covid-positive party leaders.
JD(U) ministers Vinod Kumar Singh and Shailesh Kumar also tested positive. A few staff members at Nitish Kumar’s office also tested positive earlier this month. On 6 July, the chief minister’s niece had tested positive.
All these gave an opportunity to the opposition to raise voice against conducting elections at such a juncture.
Tejashwi Yadav, Leader of Opposition in Bihar assembly, told ThePrint: “In Bihar, the whole BJP leadership is infected with Covid. The chief minister’s house is affected by Covid, the deputy CM’s office staff are positive. Still, they are more concerned about elections.”
He added, “What is the harm in delaying the elections? They want to hold the elections when people are dying.”
BJP’s general secretary and Bihar in-charge Bhupendra Yadav, however, sought to know why the RJD is scared to face elections.
“We are preparing for the elections keeping in mind the Covid-19 situation. More than 100 virtual rallies have happened in various assembly segments. We are ready for elections. But why is the RJD fearing to face the election?”
He added, “We are not in favour of delaying the election. We have articulated the same to the Election Commission earlier. Now it has to decide.”
Talking to ThePrint, Deputy CM Sushil Moshi also said the RJD is looking for excuses to defer the election in the fear of losing it.
“RJD is behaving like a weak student, who wants the exams to be delayed so that he doesn’t flunk. Let’s have faith in the Election Commission to decide the time schedule,” he added.
Food Minister Ashok Choudhary said the RJD is creating confusion to avoid the election. “They will lose more seats in the coming election. So they want to avoid it. What is the guarantee that Covid will end in 5-6 months? Do they want the elections to not happen until Covid ends?”
The Bihar assembly will complete its current term on 29 November. After the expiry of the term, the state will go under President’s Rule if elections are not held on time.
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‘RJD not prepared for elections’
A senior Bihar BJP leader, who didn’t want to be named, told ThePrint that the main reason why the RJD doesn’t want the election to be conducted on time is because it’s not prepared for it.
“RJD has not prepared for the election in the lockdown period. For two months (April-May), Tejashwi Yadav was in Delhi. They have no virtual set-up like the BJP and JD(U). Their mode of campaigning is mostly physical. Now that the election is round the corner and they know they can’t match up to the BJP-JD(U)’s resources, it is demanding to delay the elections in the name of the pandemic,” he added.
An RJD leader, who did not want to be named, echoed similar sentiments.
“We may publicly demand that the election be delayed, but we know that we can’t match up to the BJP’s resources. The JD(U) is in power, they can manage resources but due to the lockdown and Covid, we will have difficulties in gathering funds and BJD-JD(U) want to exploit this situation.”
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JD(U) is anxious: RJD
Sources in the RJD told ThePrint the JD(U) is most “anxious” to ensure that the election is conducted on time.
“If the polls are delayed, Nitish will not be the chief minister and the state will be under the President Rule. In such an event, the bargaining power of the seats will be affected. So, Nitish will not favour the delay. It will weaken his authority and it will largely favour the BJP,” said a source in the RJD.
The source also said Nitish is suspicious of LJP president Chirag Paswan, who is constantly attacking him and is also demanding more seats to fight the election.
Nitish’s close associates are watching this development closely to find out if it is Paswan’s own aspiration for a larger share of seats or if he is acting on the behalf of the BJP to put pressure on Nitish, the source added.
The JD(U), meanwhile, is preparing for the elections and holding virtual rallies in every district. The party’s virtual campaign is being managed by Nitish’s close aide and MP R.C.P. Sinha.
Nitish will address his first e-rally for the polls on 6 August.
BJP doesn’t want to ‘antagonise’ Nitish
A second BJP leader said the party doesn’t want to take any chance to antagonise Nitish or cast suspicion in his mind about the party’s intentions.
“The BJP will not take a chance to antagonise Nitish. After the loss in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, the BJP is very careful in dealing with allies. (Union Home Minister) Amit Shah’s message is clear that we cannot afford to lose the government in Bihar and we have to support Nitish,” he said.
“If in any case, the situation changes due to Covid, he should be on board with postponement of elections. But it all depends on how we manage the pandemic in the coming days. There is still time,” he said.
MP Ram Kripal Yadav, meanwhile, told ThePrint: “Why will the party want President’s Rule when we are going in the election as an alliance partner?”
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