Analysis: Party's Policies in Assembly Elections Feb'05 and Oct-Nov'05

PARTIES	THEN		NOW
Congress	RJD left only 20 seats to fight for.	Fielded for another 80 seats of its own.	Demanding 50-70 seats fron RJD to field out of a list of 113 prepared.	To field :- 10 sitting seats. 25 seats where Cong. came 2nd (6 seats) or 3rd. 78 forbidden land where Cong. and RJD have sizeable presence.
NCP	RJD left only 2 seats to fight for.	Fielded for total 31 seats and won 3.	Claiming for 15 seats to field from RJD.
LJP	Fielded for 178 seats.	Won 29 seats. 17.33% - pass percentage. Acquired trust from a chunk of upper castes and Muslims beside Dalit support base.	Will field as 3rd alliance. Will not field in 10 Cong. sitting seats.	The tallest Dalit leader in the state.
BSP	Fielded in 238 seats.	Won only 2 seats, Gopalganj & Kateya. 4.5% - pass percentage.	Will field independentally in all 243 seats.	Expecting Dalit votes.
CPM			Will support UPA
CPI			Will support LJP
Forthcoming Chief Ministers Names suggested :- UPA – Laloo Prasad Yadav NDA – Nitish Kumar LJP – A Muslim Chief Minister
Beneficieries by the present situation :- Congress, CPM, NCP.

Compiled on 09.09.05
Updated on 14.09.05

Bihar goes for polls amid festivals and increasing number of Non-bailable Warrants

Ten months after the Assembly Election, Bihar is going for Re-election. This time in four phases. Chief Election Commissioner, Mr. B.B. Tandon announced 18th & 26th October for the first two phase of election and November 13th and 19th for the last two phase. Counting of votes will take place on 22nd November. Hence, the entire process of the election will be completed by 23rd of November, the completion date of six months of premature dissolution of Bihar Legislative Assembly.

The dates of the election have been drawn up considering certain factors. They are the deployment of central paramilitary forces, inspecting road conditions (especially the flood hit areas) and dates of few major festivals - Dussehra, Diwali, Id, Chhat and Guru Nanak's birthday.

Several political parties have sought reconsiderations of the schedule announded by the EC, as the first two phases are clashing with the month of Ramzan and Dussehra. Tariq Anwar, secretary of Nationalist Congress Party expressed displeasure over the eletion schedule and said the elections should be held in only two phases i.e. November 13th and 19th.

Bihar will be having an election of 243 Assembly Constituencies. Out of this 39 is reserved for Scheduled Castes. Against last elections 50,060 Polling Booths, an expected 7,300 more Auxiliary Polling Stations are going to be added. The total number of voters remain the same to 5.27 crores.

The EC is worried with the adding list of non-bailable warrants by the Bihar Government. On July 7, the government had 27,123 NBWs pending. August 25th, the total figure rose to 70,189, when the full commission visited Patna. On 2nd of October, the commission received a figure of 76,471 NBWs, pending for more than six months, from the DG police. According to the DG police, the NBWs are mainly found in the districts of Aurangabad, Banka, Buxar and Siwan. The first three districts are going for the election in Phase I and Siwan in Phase IV.

However, the EC said that an extensive videography will be done for free and fair polls. Before the election schedule, a special drive will be conducted to unearth the illegal arms in the state. A fresh list of anti-social elements will also be worked upon and voter identity cards will be mandatory for all voters.