Arun Chaubey
Over a month long-long poll process of Jharkhand assembly election is almost over with the fifth phase of voting today, and the fate of candidates would now be decided on 23rd of this month. The sixteen constituencies polling in the final phase has 33,93,172 voters and 4564 polling booths.
A total of 290 candidates, including 23 women are in the fray for the 16 Naxal-infested constituencies where the state administration has resorted to unprecedented security to foil the Maoist boycott call, and has relocated 149 polling stations spread over 12 seats for security or other reasons. The maximum of 48 polling stations have been relocated in Manika, followed by 27 in Latehar and 13 in Simaria.
If we look at the constituencies of the last phase and try to draw an analogy between the performance of different political parties in 2005 assembly polls, we find that Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD had performed better and was equal to the BJP. Of the 16 seats, RJD and BJP had won five each, follwed by JD-U two and one each by JMM, NCP, AIFB and an Independent. Surprisingly, Congress party could not open its account, while JMM too fared badly.
But the political scenario in this election has changed a lot and the Congress-JVM-P alliance has emerged as a strong opponent to the BJP+JD-U combine and the JMM. Although the RJD has lost its lustre on the national fora, with LJP and Left parties it is not sparing any opportunity to remain politically significant in the state in post-poll scenario.
The final phase majorly covers three parliamentary constituencies of Palamu, Chatra and Singhboom and one assembly seat each falls in Koderma and Khunti. Barkatha, where polling was rescheduled for the last phase after BJP candidate Chittaranjan Yadav died, comes under Koderma, where former BJP leader Babulal Marandi has his sway.
The Kharswan seat, which falls under Khunti parliamentary constituency, was won by former Chief Minister Arjun Munda in 2005 who now represents the party in Lok Sabha after winning from Jamshedpur.
In Palamu, the dreaded zone of Maoist influence, JMM’s Kameshwar Bitha, once a notorious Naxal leader, has won parliamentary election, but in majority of the assembly seats falling under it were won by RJD( Bishrampur, Garhwa), JD-U (Daltonganj , Chhatarpur), NCP (Hussainabad) and AIFB (Bhawnathpur). Therefore, JMM has an acid test here, while Congress alliance too has a similar situation if it fails to woo RJD voters.
In another Maoist-infested parliamentary seat of Chatra (won by ex-JD-U leader Inder Singh Namdhari an an Independent) covers Panki, Latehar and Manika where RJD had hoisted its flag in 2005, while two seats of Simaria and Chatra were won by the BJP. Therefore, it seems in this region the BJP+JD-U had to strive hard to retain their position against the RJD alliance while giving tough fight to Congress and JMM.
The result of Singhbhoom parliamentary seat which covers three assembly seats in this phase woud be interesting to watch, as it is represented by now ‘infamous’ former Chief Minister Madhu Koda. The latter’s new political outfit is contesting six assembly seats of which three, Seraikela (won by JMM), Chaibasa (BJP) and Jagannathpur (Koda), fall under the same constituency. On Koda’s assembly seat, his wife is seeking vote in the name of injustice done to her husband and to expose other players who according to her have framed Koda in the hawala racket.
The National Election Watch with the help of its local network has come out with the analysis of the contestants of the fifth phase. Of the total candidates, 64 (39%) with self declared pending criminal charges are in the fray, while out of 64 candidates, 36 (22%) have declared serious IPC charges like murder and attempt to murder charges against them.
All the major political parties have given tickets to candidate with serious pending criminal charges and the party wise break up is; RJD-7, JMM-5, AJSU-3, Congress-2, BSP-4, JD(U)-2.
The fifth phase poll has become very crucial as all the parties have put in their might in last ditch effort to woo the voters, while the Maoists are determined to hold their sway through boycott call as Palamu, Chatra and Singhboom comprise their core areas of influence.
Since the JMM decided not to go for any alliance, it has accused all the parties including RJD, Congress and BJP for failing to develop Jharkhand. While appealing to the electorate in the name giving a “fearless, corruption-free and good governance” if it comes to power, it has promised to keep an calculated distance from NDA and UPA and form government on its own.
First Published: Saturday, December 19, 2009, 00:17