Bihar Elections: Key issues for electorate as first phase of voting begins

Polling on 71 assembly seats in Bihar is underway on Wednesday, and the leaders across parties are campaigning in the constituencies that go to poll in the second phase. While Nitish Kumar — the CM face of NDA has compared his development works with 15 years of 'Jungle Raj' under RJD, and has attacked the Lalu Yadav family for looting the people of Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav — the CM candidate of the Mahagathbandhan, has promised 10 lakh jobs and has raised the factor of old versus young. As 2.14 crore voters will be deciding the fate of 1066 candidates in the first phase, here's a look at what are the ground-level issues in the state. 

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Migration

After the nationwide lockdown was imposed due to the Coronavirus pandemic, migrant workers from Bihar had to return to their hometowns. However, after months of being in limbo, they are now rushing back to big cities. Others who have chosen to stay back want the state government to provide them jobs. Even as the NDA claims that they have ensured the well-being of the migrant workers, Mhaagathbandhan has attacked the state government for turning a blind eye to their woes. With the elections ahead, migrant workers are looking with keen eyes towards the political parties and will vote accordingly. 

Unemployment

Migration from the state is a result of unemployment. As per news agency ANI, a Periodic Labour Force Survey has stated that over 40 percent of Bihar youth are unable to find any source of income. A Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) report said Bihar's unemployment rate increased 31.2 percentage points in April 2020 — rising up to 46.6 percent. The CMIE survey said the unemployment rate in Bihar rose from 1.6 percent in April 2017 to its current rate. With this, promise for jobs is the main focus of the political parties. While Mahagathbandhan has promised 10 lakh jobs, NDA has assured the state subjects of giving 19 lakh jobs. Whether or not the manifesto promises transform into actual jobs remains to be seen after election results are out and voters of Bihar choose their next government. 

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Tackling COVID-19 crisis

Bihar has so far 1,065 deaths due to COVID while the tally remains 2,13,382 with 678 fresh cases on October 27. The total number of recoveries in the state to 2,03,244 and active cases is at 9,073. Incumbent CM Nitish Kumar and PM Modi has claimed that if the NDA government would not have taken timely measures, there would have been a huge number of deaths due to COVID. However, a visit to the Seemanchal (areas of Purnea, Kishanganj, Darbhanga) in September showed a gross violation of COVID-19 norms and poor condition of the COVID hospitals. Various videos from the state's capital Patna have also gone viral on social media exposing the pathetic situation and the mismanagement.  

Moreover, the state's Minister for Backward and Extremely Backward Classes Welfare Vinod Singh, 50, who was a BJP MLA from the Pranpur assembly constituency of Katihar district and State Panchayati Raj Minister Kapil Deo Kamat passed away days ahead of assembly polls. Scores of top leaders including Depuy CM Sushil Modi, BJP poll-in-charge Devendra Fadnavis, BJP MP from Saran Rajiv Pratap Rudy and spokesperson Shahnawaz have tested positive in the last one week. Tejashwi Yadav, who is the Chief Ministerial face of Mahagathbandhan has slammed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and termed him as ignorant regarding COVID-19. Contrary to criticism, Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey said that the recovery rate in the state has touched 94.24%, "which is the highest among all states of India and countries having registered more than one lakh positive cases." It remains to be seen whether or not the COVID pandemic will play a role electorally in a state where caste arithmetic plays a significant role in election victory.

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Law and order

Incumbent CM Nitish Kumar is seeking votes for NDA by comparing the law and order situation of the state under his rule to that of 15 years of RJD. Often termed as 'Jungle Raj', NDA leaders including PM Modi have slammed the Lalu Yadav family for looting the people of Bihar. However, the Mahagathbandhan has claimed that Nitish Kumar has deteriorated the law and order situation and the incidents of firing and kidnapping have increased. Just a day ahead of Phase 1 election in the state, a clash broke out between people and Police force wherein Police has been accused of open firing.

Moreover, news agency ANI has quoted a public survey conducted by the Centre for the Studies of Developing Societies (CSDS) earlier this year, and stated that the people of Bihar believe the reason behind worsening law and order is the complicity between the police and political leaders. The CSDS survey reads that 34 percent of the people surveyed believe that the police themselves violate the rules and regulations. A total of 77 percent hold an opinion that there is a nexus between the political leaders and police, leading to a low degree of trust of the public in the police department. 

While speaking to people on the ground, most are of opinion that the condition in the state has changed since Lalu Yadav's time, but Nitish Kumar has not taken stringent measures in the past 5 years, compared to previous 10 years of his rule.

Ravaging floods

According to the Disaster Management Department, this year's deluge in the state has swamped 1,232 panchayats across 16 districts of the state. At least 23 people have been reported dead in flood-related incidents. Even as the situation remains more or less the same in the past 30 years, not much importance has been given to the flood issue in the election campaigns. While NDA chooses to remain tight-lipped about the flood ravage in the state, Tejashwi Yadav in his manifesto has promised rehabilitation for the victims, however, a concrete plan to tackle the primary problem is absent across the political spectrum. 

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Bihar Elections 2020

The Bihar Assembly has a strength of 243 members out of which 38 seats are reserved for SC and two for ST. Nitish Kumar is seeking reelection and is the CM face for the NDA. Mahagathbandhan has chosen Tejashwi Yadav as their CM face. The BJP is contesting on a seat-sharing formula of 121-122 seats with the JDU and Mukesh Sahni of Vikasheel Insaan party and Jitan Ram Manjhi of HAM(S), while LJP will contest solo. Mahagathbandhan comprising of Congress and three left parties have are contesting on seat-sharing formula of 144-70-29 seats respectively. 

There are two other alliances in the fray - Owaisi's AIMIM has stitched an alliance with Upendra Kushwaha-led RLSP, Mayawati's BSP, Devendra Yadav's SJDD, and SBSP called 'Grand Democratic Secular Front'. The alliance has fielded Kushwaha as the chief ministerial face. Another alliance named 'Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA)', consist of Pappu Yadav's Jan Adhikar Party (JAP), Chandrashekhar Azad's Azad Samaj Party, MK Faizi's Social Democratic Party and Bahujan Mukti Party. They have made Pappu Yadav their CM face.

Polling in 71 seats is underway and the other two phases of the Bihar election are on November 3 and November 7, and the results will be announced on November 10. The Election Commission of India stated that 7 lakh hand sanitizers, 46 lakh masks, 6 lakh PPE kits, 6.7 lakh face shields and 23 lakh pairs of hand gloves have been arranged for the election. To observe the COVID-19 prevention norms, each polling booth will have less than 1000 voters. To decongest polling stations further, the voting time has been increased by one hour. Thus, people will be able to cast their votes from 7 am to 6 pm barring for the areas affected by Left-wing extremism. 

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(With inputs from ANI)