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The cost of an election in Bihar: a few score lives

Soroor Ahmed in Patna

Elections always take a heavy toll in Bihar. Forty to sixty lives are lost every time. The irony is that the bloodbath takes place despite more than two-thirds of the 85,000 booths in the state being classified as sensitive or hypersensitive and the Election Commission ordering heavy deployment of police and central paramilitary forces.

In constituencies where caste polarisation is at its extreme and ultra-left violence is feared, almost all booths have been declared sensitive or hypersensitive. For example, in the five volatile assembly constituencies of Jehanabad, 30 per cent of the total 1,427 booths have been declared hypersensitive; the rest are classified sensitive.

Yet, violence and the election boycott call of extremists continue to create terror in society. For example, in the 1999 Lok Sabha election, 89 of the 189 booths under Palamu recorded zero polling because of the threat from extremists. Similarly, in Chatra, Panki and Gaya assembly segments 60, 54 and 36 booths, respectively, recorded no polling. The scene at hundreds of booths in over a dozen other constituencies in central Bihar was no different.

Though violence in elections has been going on since pre-Independence days, statistics show a sharp rise after 1980. According to Srikanth, author of Bihar Mein Chunav, mention of poll rigging can be found in old government records. Various British district magistrates had noted down how, during district board or other local body elections, zamindars (landlords) would intimidate the weaker sections of society so that they did not turn up at the booths.

The number of booths at which repolls were conducted during successive assembly elections will help to understand this phenomenon better. Repolling took place in only 41 booths during the 1952 assembly election. In 1957 this figure came down to a mere four. But in 1972 it again rose to 70. In the polls held just after the Emergency, repoll was ordered in only seven booths all over the country. But in 1980, 1985 and 1990 the figures in Bihar were 127, 295 and 1,239 booths, respectively.

But repolling was a reliable measure of electoral irregularities only till 1990. Then the whole exercise got politicised as the ruling party in Patna was no longer the same as the party ruling Delhi. And the power to countermand elections and order repolls began to be used increasingly as a political weapon. Besides, the growing caste polarisation had its impact with the backward and downtrodden classes resisting upper-caste pressure and at times even outsmarting them at their own game.

Thus, in 1995, the assembly election process continued for about three months with the Election Commission ordering a repoll in thousands of booths all over the state not once but twice. This created a sort of constitutional crisis as the poll process continued even after the expiry of the five-year term of the assembly and the Centre had to impose President's rule in the state for a couple of weeks to allow the electoral process to be completed.

Poll-related violence also remains high. In the 1995 assembly election, 54 people lost their lives and 63 were injured in 1,270 incidents. In the 1996 parliamentary election, 42 lives were lost and 187 people were injured in 1,226 incidents. In the 1998 and 1999 Lok Sabha elections, the toll was 44 and 54, respectively.

But the violence in the 1999 Lok Sabha election was of a different kind. About 50 of the 54 casualties were police personnel and election officials killed in landmine blasts or boat mishaps on their way to the polling stations. But apart from this, the election saw relatively less violence, though rigging went on as usual with both the ruling party and the Opposition having a field day.

Last year's extremist attacks on police patrols have compelled the Election Commission and the state government to chalk out a different strategy this time. Since such violence has remained confined to central and south-central Bihar, the state government has decided to deploy 40 Indian Police Service officers with special powers in these 17 districts. Police personnel are being trained to sweep landmines and efforts are on to check the smuggling of explosives.

But the deployment of IPS officers in the extremist-affected constituencies has triggered a tug-of-war between the lAS and IPS lobby. For example, Palamu District Collector Aneeta Pal is reported to have objected to the appointment of an officer of the rank of deputy inspector general to conduct the anti-extremist drive.

Actually, the violence caused by the Leftists during the election is posing a bigger problem for the administration. Clashes between supporters of two political parties or booth-grabbers do not play havoc with the lives of the police and polling personnel. The government's representatives simply withdraw from the booth or surrender abjectly to the booth-grabbers.

But the extremists' move to target police and duty magistrates sent a chill down the spines of many officials who normally perform election duty. While the Bihar Police Association is on the warpath, demanding adequate facilities, many non-governmental employees and college teachers told rediff.com that they are finding one excuse or the other to abstain from duty this time.

BPA general secretary K K Jha charged the state government with not paying compensation to the police personnel killed during the last parliamentary election. State Home Commissioner U N Panjiar denied the allegation, saying compensation was paid also to the families of central paramilitary force personnel. The government has this time promised to give an insurance cover of Rs 1 million to the personnel.

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