With controversies raging over SIR, allegations flying, Bihar heads into a high-stakes election, one that could set the tone of the nation’s political mood
With the election schedule announced by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Bihar is once again swept up in the frenzy of elections. The state will go to the polls in two phases, on November 6 and 11, with counting scheduled for November 14. No election in Bihar is free from issues but this time around the role of the Election Commission (EC) itself is under scanner. The controversy surrounding alleged large-scale voter deletions through the State Information Repository (SIR) portal has ignited a political storm. The Opposition has accused the EC of siding with the BJP — an allegation that reflects the deep mistrust between political parties and the Constitutional institutions meant to serve in apolitical manner. Bihar with its unique history and caste matrix is more than just a state in India, it is a microcosm of the country’s political mood. The way Bihar votes would give a sense of what the nation is thinking. As Opposition parties rally around charges of voters’ name deleted from the voter list on flimsy grounds, the whole election exercise is being viewed with suspicion. The ECI has done little to calm down the tempers and has been vague and unconvincing in defending its actions. In a healthy democracy, the EC stands as the custodian of people’s right to vote and their participation in the election, but right now its credibility is under siege.
The allegations that lakhs of voters — particularly from marginalised communities (often dubbed as Opposition’s vote bank) — have been struck off the rolls have led to outrage and charges of electoral manipulation are being levelled against the ECI itself. The ECI so far has done little to allay suspicions. Meanwhile Bihar is just a month away from the elections and is already seeing a lot of political activity — new alignments are taking shape and many new players would also be trying their luck at the hustings. But at the core it is basically it is the caste calculus.
Caste politics has dominated Bihar from very early times, though the BJP and RSS have made inroads, but they still have a long way to go. For the BJP, Bihar is a treasure trove of parliamentary seats, and it needs to do well to remain strong in Delhi, though right now it is bereft of an electoral plank in the state. Tejashwi Yadav has emerged a crowd-puller, and Congress, which was on the fringe, has managed to register its presence with Rahul Gandhi’s Bullet rallies.
It will be fascinating to see how Bihar casts its votes. With its diverse social fabric and intricate caste dynamics, the state serves as a unique political barometer, where caste alignments and Hindutva influences could once again clash and outcome would define the national politics. Thus, whatever the outcome, this election will be read as a verdict on Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav, Rahul Gandhi and PM Modi. A victory for the BJP will be seen as a reaffirmation of Modi’s charisma and policies and the RSS’s growing social influence; a defeat will be construed as the resurgence of regional resistance and a reassertion of democratic plurality.
