Voters in Jharkhand are confused by the multi-cornered fights and splits within political alliances in the state.
Multi-cornered contests have broken out in all the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state with the three political combinations facing problems and splits, as well.
After the withdrawal of nominations, 249 candidates are in the fray for 14 Lok Sabha seats, with anything between 31 and 9 candidates for each seat.
In possibly half the constituencies, election officers have to use two balloting units in the booths to accommodate all the contestants.
Among the political combinations, the Third Front appears to be the worst off in the state.
The Left parties have put up candidates in seven seats.
However, its ally in the Third Front, the Jharkhand Vikash Morcha (JVM) led by former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi, has put up candidates in all the seats against the Left inspite of being a part of the Third Front.
The JVM says, this election is a dry run for the Assembly polls that are due to be held very soon (the state is under President’s rule).
JVM is assessing its strength, Marandi said in explanation.
NDA appears to be better off but is not quite free from cracks.
BJP offered two seats of Chatra and Palamau to its junior partner, the JDU, but reports indicate that BJP workers in those areas are not happy with the idea and are openly opposing the JDU in those two constituencies.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of JDU and his deputy chief minister Sushil Modi of BJP came there recently for campaigning, and BJP workers were clearly against JDU candidates though Kumar urged the voters to strengthen the hands of L K Advani The divisions in the Congress led UPA under Sonia Gandhi are sharper.
In 2004 elections, the UPA bagged 13 out of 14 seats with Congress getting six seats, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) four, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) two seats, and CPI, the former UPA partner, with one seat. The UPA first decided to allot the seats to those constituent parties, which had won that seat in the last Lok Sabha elections, but the Hazaribagh seat won by CPI last time became a bone of contention between Congress and JMM.
A “friendly contest” will be held for the seat under a mutual agreement. Lalu Prasad Yadav has reached a seat-sharing agreement with Ram Vilas Paswan in Bihar without taking Congress into confidence, complicating matters a great deal.
In retaliation, the Congress has forged a 7-5 seat-deal with JMM in Jharkhand, leaving just two seats for Yadav’s RJD and none for Paswan’s LJP. Reacting to this, Lalu Yadav and Paswan came to a seat sharing agreement, in which RJD decided to put up four candidates and LJP five against UPA candidates.
This divided the UPA and has led to a free for all, and so-called “friendly fights” elsewhere too. For example, the son of Shibu Soren, a part of the Congress-led central government, filed his nomination for the Godda seat, though it was allotted to the Congress.
This threatened Congress-JMM unity and to save it, JMM leaders declared that they would be campaigning for the Congress candidate Furkan Ansari in Godda. The troubles of the UPA, and particularly the problems of JMM, increased as Shibu Soren is seriously ill and is being treated in New Delhi. Soren is unlikely to campaign this time but he had considerable following among tribals and backward castes.
JMM has prepared cassettes of his messages and speeches to play at election rallies but these will not have the same impact as his presence. After the problem with the Godda seat, senior Congress leaders are unlikely to campaign for JMM candidates.
These factors can threaten the chances of the UPA and make it difficult for it to defend the seats it won last time. The BJP camp is happy with this scenario.
One problem threatening both sides is the competing claims of a large number of independents and regional party candidates who have some following in their respective areas and who are also contesting in many seats. They are sure to erode the votes of both NDA and UPA if not the votes of other political entities.
Few independents may win themselves but they will spoil the prospects of others.
These candidates are called vote-katwa (or spoilers) in local parlance for they lead to the division of votes, and many candidates from big parties admit they are not sure how much damage these independent candidates will do in their seats.
