BJP-JDU HOPING TO WIN BIG IN BIHAR MLC POLLS
NDA is running a well-coordinated campaign to win at least 20 of the 24 seats which will go for polls.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar is running a well-coordinated and joint campaign for the legislative council polls in Bihar to be held on 4 April. Both the major partners of National Democratic Alliance (NDA), namely the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal United (JDU) had put up their entire rank and file in the constituencies and are aiming to win at least 20 out of the 24 seats which will go for polls. The importance of these polls for the political landscape of the state is such that most of the state government ministers have been made in-charge of the constituency of their influence and have been asked to be stationed there for two weeks for better co-ordination in the NDA and script the winning strategy.
In the alliance, the BJP is contesting on the 12 seats namely-east Champaran, Kishanganj, Katihar, Saharsa, Gopalganj, Rohtas, Aurangabad, Saran, Siwan, Darbhanga, Begusarai and Samastipur, while the Nitish Kumar led JDU is contesting on 11 seats namely West Champaran, Sitamarhi, Bhagalpur, Munger, Nawada, Patna, Bhojpur, Gaya, Nalanda, Muzaffarpur, and Madhubani, while the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP), a breakaway faction of LJP led by Pasupati Kumar Paras is contesting from the
Vaishali seat.
Talking to The Sunday Guardian, Ranjeet Kumar Jha, JDU state secretary, said, “The co-ordination between the partners of the NDA is good. In-charges for all the 11 seats where the JDU is fighting have been announced. Nitish Kumar provided voice and leadership to the elected members of Panchayati Raj institutions at the lower level in Bihar; previously they were not having any say in the decision making processes. Moreover, it is Nitish Kumar who is fulfilling the dreams of Mahatma Gandhi’s Gram Swaraj. I am confident that we will win at least 22 seats out of 24 which are going for polls. The voters have understood well that it is Nitish Kumar who has given them everything, hence the opposition is nowhere in the fight.”
In these local bodies MLC elections, the elected Panchayat and municipal body members like ward councillors, district councilors, Mukhiya are eligible to vote. The coordinated and joint campaign by both the parties have put to rest speculation about uneasiness in the Bihar NDA which was discussed for a few months in view of opposition parties’ idea to project Nitish Kumar as the joint Presidential candidate of the opposition. Talking to The Sunday Guardian, Devesh Kumar, a senior BJP leader, said, “the opposition parties are going to lose deposits in the polls. The local bodies’ MLC polls give us an idea how the people at the village level are thinking. When we are travelling, we have found that they are well connected to Narendra Modi and are impressed with the works he has done for the village and common people residing in the villages.”
Many analysts and experts are calling these polls as crucial in the state as it is the last major election before the 2024 general elections. The decision by the main opposition party, the Rashtriya Janata
Dal (RJD), to fight the polls not in alliance with the Indian National Congress (INC) is also seen as an attempt by it to prepare itself on its own to fight on the 40 parliamentary seats and strengthen the organizational base of the party. “You may see some changes in Bihar politics in the coming weeks after the Assembly session and when the MLC polls get over. As far as these MLC elections are concerned, they are dominated by money considerations. Most of the tickets have been given to big contractors and those who can invest more than Rs 5 crore in the election; the NDA is in an advantageous position in the polls,” said Santosh Kumar Singh, a political commentator who is widely following the developments.