The election commission has finally announced the Bihar election schedule. It is 10 days behind the 2020 announcement. Under the shadow of the controversial SIR, which has since been challenged in the Supreme Court, the election commission has been brazen about its criticism.
It even went on to challenge the authority and jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to question the SIR. It released the revised electoral rolls with 69 lac names deleted and another 21 lac names added.
The commission has evaded crucial questions like number of foreign nationals identified during the revision, how many of the deleted voters had voted in the 2024 general elections and also if it had sent individual information to the electors facing deletion of their names.
At a time when the bonafide of the election commission is not beyond doubt, its obstinacy does not help the democratic process.
Nevertheless there seems to be a weariness setting in the opposition’s campaign against the SIR. After all with elections due in less than a month, and boycotting them not being an option, no one can afford to continue with the campaign.
While the political parties have their own calculations, the choice before the people, is limited. Ever since the Mandal report, the state has given absolute mandate to the Mandal forces, first to Mr Lalu Yadav for 15 years and then Mr Nitish for the next 20 years.
After 35 years, it has witnessed an upending of the caste hierarchy in social order which was terribly violent, and then some reconciliatory peace in the form of an alliance of extremes between Nitish Kumar and the BJP.
This period allowed for some basic visible progress in infrastructure and welfare schemes. But 20 years is a long time, the state is stuck in celebrating this minimal progress. Issues like low industrial growth, unemployment, and migration remain unaddressed.
As a cadre and its social base got entrenched in power, corruption was inevitable and the frequency of falling bridges has become a parable. No major redistribution program has been implemented. Bihar with the highest fertility rate in the country is also the youngest.
Therefore its aspirations are beholden to legacy. The Congress under Mr Rahul Gandhi has tried to appeal to it. By promising residential land to all, it has offered a radical solution.
How credible the party and its leader is in the eyes of the people would be tested. Last time the elections were too close to call, the final gap was hardly a few thousand votes, in an electorate of 75 million.
So a change of around 9 million voters in the rolls has fundamentally altered the equations. If we go by the common doubts, it would be an uphill climb for the opposition, but the wisdom of the voters has humbled many.
