Voters’ stress on local issues baffles parties

Manoj Chaurasia
PATNA, March 30: Political parties in Bihar are struggling to sell their ideas as voters want local issues highlighted. While major parties are raking up national and international issues like Indo-US civil nuclear deal, Swiss bank deposits, foreign policy and recession much beyond the comprehension of common men, locals demand very little ~ that drain water should not flow into their farmlands or they be given compensation for property loss caused by fires. There are over a dozen villages located in various parts of Bihar which have announced boycott of polls if their demands are not met before the scheduled dates of polling.
Political pundits are surprised at the way voters’ stress on local issues. Unlike in the past when voters used to give preference to national issues over local ones and personal grievances, this time they seem indifferent towards national issues and refuse to lend a ear. This is worrying parties which are finding it extremely difficult to tackle such voters.
It all started with Gwalpada village in flood-ravaged Madhepura district which announced boycott of the Lok Sabha polls until roads that were badly destroyed during the Kosi floods were repaired. Initially, a few villages followed Gwalpada but now the number has swelled to over a dozen. Many of them have even put up banners and posters in the villages announcing their poll boycott plan.
On Thursday hundreds of villagers of Dobhi in Gaya village took out a huge rally announcing vote boycott if their village is not electrified immediately. “The areas around us are illuminated but my village does not have power till date”, rued Mr Suresh Mandal, a villager. Villagers have also put up a big banner outside their village, which reads “***Bijali nahin to vote nahin (No power, no vote)”.
Similarly, a village in Nalanda district has announced vote boycott over flowing of drain waters into the farmland which, they say, is destroying their crops. “We requested many times to the local mukhiya, local administration and the legislator but no one showed interest in our case. Now, we have decided not to vote for anyone until our problem is solved”, shouted the local villagers while putting up a road blockade. In one of the localities in Saharsa, another flood-hit district, villagers are demanding kerosene oil, ration cards and rehabilitation in lieu of votes. At a village in Begusarai, villagers are angry at not being given compensation for loss caused by fires and have vowed to teach a lesson to candidates. Almost identical is the story of several villages in Kaimur, Rohtas, Samastipur Purnia and Nawada districts where local issues are dominating over national ones.
Although vote boycott by villagers is nothing unusual during elections in Bihar, what is new this time is that they have announced their poll boycott plan quite like Maoists. Previously, they would stay away from the voting process without any hullabaloo but this time they have taken to the streets and have even approached the media to publicise their plan. Their stand, experts say, only supports the Maoists who too have announced poll boycott in Bihar. Maoists hold sway in at least half of the total 38 districts of Bihar while in some pockets of south-central Bihar they are said to be virtually running a “parallel government”. Keeping in mind the Maoist threat, the Election Commission has decided to conduct polling for Aurangabad and Karakat Lok Sabha seats on a separate date on 18 April. Both these two constituencies along with 11 others, as per the EC’s original poll schedule, were scheduled to go to poll during the first phase on 16 April. The date for elections in the two areas had to be revised as the local administration has expressed helplessness in conducting polls on 16 April given the looming threat of Maoists.“As most of the polling booths are located in the Naxalite-infested areas, it will be difficult for the local administration to conduct peaceful polls on a single day”, the Aurangabad superintendent of police, Mr Ravindran Shankaran, has reportedly reasoned with the EC. Officials of other Naxalite-infested districts like Gaya, Nawada, Rohtas and Kaimur, too, have reportedly expressed apprehension over large-scale violence during polls given the Maoists’ vote boycott plan. The state administration has sought at least 325 companies of para-military forces from the Centre for conducting free and fair polls in Bihar.

Source : The Statesman