Amid tight security arrangements on Sunday, altogether 47 per cent of voters exercised their franchise in the Maharajganj lok Sabha by-election, which had witnessed vigorous campaigning both by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief lalu Prasad for their respective party candidates.
District Magistrate of Saran and Chief Returning Officer for Maharajganj lok Sabha constituency, Abhijit Sinha told mediapersons in Chhapra that no major incident was reported from any part of the constituency. He said that tight security arrangements were made for free and fair election.
As experienced in the previous elections in the State, a large number of women voters queued up before the polling booths in the constituency thus pushing up the voting percentage to make the electoral battle more interesting and colourful which otherwise could not enthuse voters much despite high-profile campaigning by leaders of various political parties.
Even the 2010 State Assembly election had witnessed an improved participation of women voters, improving the voting percentage by around seven per cent in comparison to the preceding Assembly poll. Though no female candidate was present in the fray, it did not not dampen the spirit of the womenfolk who thronged polling booths since morning. But, their numbers only grew once they were through with their daily domestic chores.
At least 20 companies of Central police forces, 10 companies of Bihar Military Police, three companies of Special Task Force (STF) and 7,000 additional police forces were deployed across the Maharajganj parliamentary constituency.
The bypoll in the Naxal-dominated Taraiya Assembly segment of the Maharajganj lok Sabha constituency was also incident free. Voters cast their votes under Taraiya Assembly segment from 7 am to 4 pm while the polling in other Assembly segments continued up to 6 pm.
The number of total voters in the constituency was more than 14.99 lakh while the number of polling booths in the Maharajganj constituency was 1,476. The Maharajganj by-election is considered as a litmus test for two traditional political rivals — Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief lalu Prasad — who have made their all efforts for the victory of their candidates in the hustings.
Nitish tried his best to improve the victory chances of the JD(U) candidate and State Education Minister PK Shahi by impressing upon voters to cast their votes in favour of Shahi in view of the good work his Government is doing for the State. However, it is yet to be seen how the people will respond to his call as Maharajganj constituency is still dotted with damaged roads and very erratic power supply.
In fact, voters at a polling booth under Manjhi Assembly segment of the Maharajganj parliamentary constituency boycotted the poll on the issue of development while voters at a polling booth under the Maharajganj Assembly segment boycotted the election to protest against non-inclusion of Dhansua village in Nagar Panchayat.
PK Shahi, a former State Advocate General, is pitted against the three-term MP from Maharajganj and RJD candidate Prabhunath Singh. On earlier occasions, Singh had contested the election as the JD(U) candidate but this time he is trying his luck on the RJD ticket.
Prabhunath Singh has full backing of lalu who campaigned extensively in the constituency by camping there for seven days. Though lalu could not attract more than modest crowds during his public meetings, he took special care for establishing a dialogue with the electorate by meeting them in groups too on his ways to election meetings.
The Congress candidate, Jitendra Swami who might corner a good number of votes of his caste members in the election had also the luxury of a vigorous campaigning by Central Ministers and senior party leaders in his favour.
For lalu, a victory in the election is all important as it would help him salvage his political fortunes largely before his party throws its hat in the ring for the 2014 lok Sabha elections. With the Congress sending confusing signals over the possibility of an alliance with the RJD in the election, the RJD can hope of buttressing its image by registering a convincing victory in the election.
For Nitish, the victory will help him emerge as the undisputed leader at a time when the relationship between the JD(U) and the BJP is witnessing some sort of somersault over the issue of projection of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2014 polls. An electoral mandate from voters will also bolster his Government’s image when sceptics have started raising questions over the effectiveness of his style of governance.