Bettiah, Feb. 21: The lotus is in for an acid test in Bihar?s ?mini-Chambal?.

Dacoits, contemporary ?feudal? lords and a hostile nature have combined well to keep West Champaran backward for years. Development is a concept alien to most in this district.

Sugarcane cultivation is on the wane with a few mills winding up and the closure of stone crushers has ruined the lives of many. The poor do not have access to forests, which once sustained them, any longer. Recurring floods have forced thousands to migrate to Punjab and other parts of the country.

The worst sufferers are Dalit landless labourers, peasants in the southern Gandak bel, and the Uraon and Tharu tribes of the forests bordering Nepal.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal ?misrule?, the talking point in these elections, is not a factor here. Instead, people talk about ?PC?, which means the percentage of commission taken by administrative officials and leaders to carry out projects.

Of the nine Assembly seats in the district, five are with the BJP. The Congress, SP, BSP and the RJD had won the other four seats. RJD legislator from Bagaha Purnamasi Ram later rebelled and joined the Janata Dal (United).

Though the BJP has done well here in the past, it may not be a cakewalk this time. ?In the 2000 elections, the Vajpayee factor worked. This time, the focus is on individual candidates,? says local journalist Aman Kumar.

?The anti-incumbency factor sure exists. But the BJP too will find the going tough. The LJP and a few other parties might gain,? a professor at Bettiah MJK College observes.

More than half the booths have been declared hyper-sensitive in view of possible Maoist attacks and the criminal past of the district. While the Naxalites have so far kept silent, a group of activists, which follows the path of Jayaprakash Narayan, is on a crusade against six ?tainted? candidates.

?We have targeted six candidates ? two each from the RJD and SP and one each from the JD(U) and BJP ? who are either criminals or corrupt people. We display charts containing their criminal records and ask the people to throw them out,? says Pankaj, a product of the JP movement. ?I?m doing what the government and the Election Commission should do,? he adds.