JOIN USUp to Election Commission to decide when to hold Bihar Assembly polls: BJP
After insisting for weeks that the Bihar elections will be held as per the schedule, the BJP, in a major climbdown, has now conceded it was for the Election Commission to decide whether polls were possible or not during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s for the EC to decide whether Assembly polls are possible in Bihar. We will abide by the EC decision,” said senior BJP leader and Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
His statement comes at a time when the chorus to defer Bihar polls is getting louder by the day. Recently, another NDA ally - the LJP chief Chirag Paswan joined the Opposition ranks in voicing concern over holding Assembly polls and argued that “it will put people at risk and may result in a very low voter turnout.”
Elections for 243 Bihar Assembly seats are due in October and November this year. However, as of today (July 12), the State has been afflicted with 15039 coronavirus cases, which excludes 146 deaths. “Not only Bihar, but entire country is affected by the coronavirus. It has impacted finances of the Centre as well as Bihar. Holding elections amid this will financially burden the State more,” tweeted Chirag Paswan, son of Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, who is also a Lok Sabha MP from naxal-infested Jamui constituency in Bihar.
The Congress and the RJD leaders have already voiced their concern over holding polls during this pandemic. “The present situation is not conducive for elections as it could put lives of lakhs of people at risk. The EC should, therefore, convene an all-party meet and, after getting feedback, take an appropriate decision,” senior Congress legislator Prem Chandra Mishra told Deccan Herald here on Sunday.
The RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav too had echoed similar sentiments a few days back, thereby drawing flak from the ruling party JD (U) which mocked at him by saying: “those students, who never study, are always scared of examinations.”
Meanwhile, an advocate Badri Narayan Singh has filed a PIL in the Patna High Court pleading that the Bihar Assembly polls be deferred to February next year. Former MP Pappu Yadav too is contemplating to move Supreme Court with a prayer to the apex court to defer Bihar polls.