With eyes in the sky, Bihar goes to polls today-Oct 21, 2010,

With eyes in the sky, Bihar goes to polls today

Law Kumar Mishra, TNN, Oct 21, 2010, 12.18am IST

(GOOD WISHES TO VOTERS OF BIHAR AND BIHAR STATE.MUST VOTE FOR RIGHT CANDIDATE AND BETTER PARTY...WHO BELIEVES IN STATES DEVOLOPMENT AND BETTERMENT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!!!...VIBHA)


PATNA: In a first in Bihar, the 47 constituencies going to polls in the first phase on Thursday will be placed under air surveillance for which the Election Commission has requisitioned ''adequate number'' of Indian Air Force choppers.

On the ground, state DGP Neelmani said on Wednesday, ''85% of the 10,868 booths will be guarded by Central forces.

State's Special Auxiliary Police are out of poll duty at EC's behest. Homeguard jawans would be deployed only to guide voters outside booths.'' Refusing to give details of force deployment saying the information might compromise security, the DGP promised ''violence-free polling''.

The fate of 631 candidates is to be decided in the first phase. These include the wives of two dons, Anand Mohan and Pappu Yadav, behind bars, convicted in separate murder cases. Ranjit Ranjan, wife of former MP Pappu, will take on agriculture minister Renu Kushwaha from Bihariganj while Lovely Anand, wife of another former MP Mohan, will fight against revenue and land reforms minister Narendra Narayan Yadav at Alamnagar. While the ministers belong to JD-U, the two women are Congress candidates.

In another first, chief electoral officer Sudhir Kumar Rakesh said live web screening of polling booths would be done, which can be directly monitored by the CEC. Also, visually-challenged voters will be given braille-equipped EVMs and may take the help of an aide who should be a voter of the same booth.

To prevent inflow of liquor and money, the police have seized 1.41 lakh litres of booze over the last fortnight, said the DGP, and added that international borders with Nepal have been sealed while inter-state borders with Jharkhand, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh are out of bounds for ''unwanted elements''. So far, political bigwigs like UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, PM Manmohan Singh, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, BJP leader LK Advani, BJP president Nitin Gadkari, and his predecessors M Venkaiah Naidu and Rajnath Singh, as well as UP chief minister Mayawati have campaigned in the state.

One of the highlights of electioneering was a war of words between Manmohan and Nitish, with the CM urging the PM to ''give concrete evidence'' of charges against him to get them investigated. Nitish also invited Singh for a debate over whether Bihar has progressed during his five-year rule or not.


Read more: With eyes in the sky, Bihar goes to polls today - The Times of India