Tight security for Bihar election
by Ajay Kumar
Patna:
A massive security blanket has been thrown across 57 constituencies
spread over 12 districts in Bihar ahead of Tuesday's first
phase Assembly election. The constituencies going to polls
in the first phase are the naxalite-hit Patna, Rohtas, Kaimur,
Buxar, Bhojpur, Aurangabad, Jehanabad, Gaya, Arwal, Nawada,
Jamui and Banka districts. For the first time, the Election
Commission has announced that it will be using digital cameras
and Indian Air Force manned aerial surveys to prevent bogus
voting and to collect concrete documentary evidence against
those indulging in it. The state government has deployed 605
companies of Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMF), including
Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Border Security Force (BSF),
Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Central Reserve
Police Force (CRPF) in the constituencies going to the polls.
The state government has hired four well equipped choppers,
laced with wireless sets and other appliances, from the Air
force base of Allahabad. The senior officers of the CPMF and
state police have also been ordered to undertake round the
clock air patrolling and inform the security personnel on
ground with wireless sets in case of any eventuality.
State
Director General of Police Ashish Ranjan Sinha said here today
that 90,000 armed policemen, would man the polling stations,
adding that 70 per cent of the total 13493 polling booths
would be covered by the CPMF. The other booths will be manned
by the BMP and other armed forces. No booth has been left
unguarded following the EC directive that elections will not
be held in booths not protected adequately. Besides, the State
administration has arranged for air surveillance. In the February
elections, Naxalite violence claimed the lives of 11 police
personnel. This time polling will be held against the backdrop
of two naxalite attacks on a railway station and police station
and an assault on the former Union Minister, Ravi Shankar
Prasad, at an election meeting in Nokha in Rohtas District.
Two principal alliances the Secular Democratic Forces comprising
the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress, the CPI (M) and the
NCP, and the National Democratic Alliance comprising the BJP
and the JD(U) are slugging it out for a clear verdict. The
RJD is contesting 49 seats, the Congress 7 and the CPI (M)
1 in the first phase. The NDA recorded victories in 16 constituencies
in the last elections. The BJP and the JD(U) are engaged in
a friendly fight in Belaganj constituency of Gaya district.
The LJP won nine seats last time. Most of its winners defected
to one party or the other. Its candidates will be playing
a crucial role in deciding the shape of the next Assembly.
Parties such as the CPI-ML, which won four seats in this region
last time, the Samajwadi Party, which won one, the independents,
who bagged three seats, and the BSP will make the battle multi-
cornered.
World
events from the New York Times