Patna: A fortnight-long lacklustre campaigning
for the by-polls in Bihar came to an end on Sunday with candidates
launching one-to-one contact drive to mobilise votes in their
respective constituencies.
By-polls will be held in 11 Assembly constituencies in
Bihar in the second and final phase on September 15.
The star-campaigners for the opposition RJD in Bihar were
RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and his LJP counterpart Ramvilas
Paswan who addressed several election meetings to mobilise
support for they by-polls, which they claimed, would be a
referendum on the functioning of the Nitish Kumar government.
The campaigning saw a bitter war of words between
opposition leaders and the Chief Minister in the light of the
summon issued by the Barh court against Kumar in connection
with murder of a Congress activist Sitaram Singh at Pandarak
in Barh in 1991.
The Patna High Court later stayed the entire criminal
proceedings against Kumar and called for the records from the
subordinate court on the complaint filed by Ashok Singh,
charging Kumar with involvement in the case.
Prasad and Paswan had also demanded resignation of chief
minister in the wake of the alleged summon.
Kumar, however, rubbished the charge saying the complaint
was "stage-managed" by his political opponents and he would be
vindicated.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, September 13, 2009, 16:16