The count is scheduled for Tuesday in the country’s first mass elections during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the results are expected to determine the fate of Bihar, possibly setting the agenda for the evolution of “social justice” policy, and they may herald the emergence of a new generation of leaders in the state.
Exit polls have given a decisive edge or edge to the Mahagatbandhan (Grand Alliance) Opposition parties led by Tejashwi Yadav, and have shown that the Nitish Kumar-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) struggles to retain power. . To be sure, the exit polls gave the wrong verdict in 2015, when the Grand Alliance won the election and ruled for 18 months, until Nitish Kumar switched to the NDA.
Parties across the political spectrum spoke publicly on Monday about their respective parties’ prospects, a tool often used to motivate workers on accounting day and maintain supporter morale, while privately beginning efforts. to ensure their respective alliances have the upper hand in the event of a fragmented verdict for the 243-member assembly.
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Janata Dal (United) Chief Executive Ashok Choudhary dismissed the findings from the exit polls, saying all predictions would go wrong, as happened in 2015, and suggested Nitish Kumar would return to power.
On the other hand, Tejashwi Yadav, who turned 31 on Monday, received birthday greetings from his father Lalu Prasad and several colleagues, many of whom offered their congratulations even before the results, while the state president Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD), Jagdanand Singh, asked everyone. district presidents should stay out of the strong rooms and monitor the electronic voting machines (EVM) until the count is complete.
Among national parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been witnessing an internal debate over whether sticking with Nitish Kumar was the wise way in this election, has projected confidence in the outcome. The party’s co-head of national media Sanjay Mayukh said the party was relying on a convincing majority in Bihar again. “There is nothing to worry about,” he said.
Congress, for its part, predicted the end of the sitting government, and a person familiar with the party’s internal assessment claimed that the Mahagathbandhan would likely win between 130 and 150 seats and that Congress was hoping to win 40 seats on its own. . As a precautionary measure to prevent any “poaching” attempts, Congress has asked all winning candidates to meet at a hotel in Patna and report to Secretary General Randeep Singh Surjewala for further instructions.
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But experts believe that the real importance of the elections lies in its broader message: how citizens have evaluated the government’s response to the pandemic, the possible eclipse of the era of mandal politics, and the leaders born at that time, the perception of Kumar’s Third Full Term and the attention that Tejashwi Yadav has received due to its new vocabulary of politics, shifting the focus from “social justice” to “economic justice.”
Rahul Verma, a member of the Center for Policy Research, said: “The 2020 elections put an end to the competition patterns established in the 1990s. There is a lifespan for any kind of politics, be it Lalu’s socialist-mandal politics. Prasad or Nitish Kumar’s provision of basic necessities. Leaders must continue to reinvent their narrative to respond to new aspirations. ” This, Verma suggested, happened when Yadav understood the limits of the social justice board and built the economic justice board. “Kumar’s campaign was shrouded in the past, without a focused line of attack, without new promises.”
Chandrachur Singh, a political scientist at the Hindu College, University of Delhi, agreed, saying that while caste-based political mobilization strategies may have deepened / broadened or even surpassed democratic deficits and granted democratic legitimacy to Bihar politics, this had reached its limits. “The mindless application of social justice policies that overlook issues of governance, comprehensive development and the rule of law has had its own costs, hard hitting youth in the state across caste divisions. Whatever the outcome, the education and employment opportunity agenda will strengthen for times to come. “
Political scientist Manisha Priyam said the elections had played an important role in raising the voices of the poor in general and the working class in particular. “In these elections, the world’s poorest have seized the opportunity to vote to express their views on political change but even more so to express their voice and vulnerability as a workforce clinging to insecure job opportunities on the sidelines. of some urban areas. centers ”. Tuesday’s results, he suggested, are also a time to monitor the assertion of young citizens and their ability to think like a new generation and criticize older avenues of politics.
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