Civic elections in the state are not held on party lines, but the coming municipal elections would be used as a litmus test by various political organisations to gauge the voters’ mood.
Though political canvassing is prohibited, sources said parties are leaving no stone unturned to support their members who are contesting the civic polls.
A parallel blame game has also started among the parties in an effort to attract as much mileage as possible.
The RJD has started to fire bouncers by claiming that its members elected to posts of mayors or deputy mayors in 2002 did a lot of work.
Those who followed them were involved in spats with municipal commissioners and other officials, said senior leaders of the party.
“Supporters and workers of our party had won most of the seats in the 2002 civic polls to Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) area and other civic bodies in the state. While the ward councillors, mayors and deputy mayors associated with the RJD were very progressive in providing civic services, the civic body members who followed in later years have wasted time in spats with municipal commissioners and other officials. This has affected the functioning of the local bodies,” said RJD secretary-general and Rajya Sabha member Ram Kripal Yadav.
The civic polls in 2002 were held after a gap of 18 years. The state election commission had set up 6,018 polling booths for the polls.
The last civic elections in Bihar — including the one for PMC — were held in May-June, 2007.
After the election, 72 PMC councillors elected Sanjay Kumar of BJP as the mayor and Santosh Mehta, then with BJP and now with RJD, as the deputy mayor. Later, no-confidence motions were passed against both of them in July.
In July 2010, Afzal Imam of JD(U) was elected as the mayor of the PMC. He still holds the post.
The RJD secretary-general added: “Though we have not prepared any election manifesto for upcoming civic polls, we want more and more of our workers and supporters to get elected. If the people cast votes on the issue of development, we are sure to get a majority.”
BJP, on the other hand, claims that one supporter or part worker is contesting from each ward.
“Our party would provide non-monetary support to its workers and supporters in the civic polls. We would also make sure that not more than one supporter or worker from our party contests elections in a ward. Our party is always ready to take part in all kinds of democratic activities round the year,” Sanjay Mayukh, the state vice-president of BJP.
LJP, too, is all geared up to support its workers.
Lallan Kumar Chandrwanshi, the LJP state spokesperson, told The Telegraph: “LJP would provide all sorts of non-financial support to its workers and supporters.”
The joint election commissioner of the state, Ahibhushan Pandey, told The Telegraph: “A total of 43 nominations have been filed across the state today (Tuesday).”
He added that nominations of three candidates from Nalanda district were cancelled because of pending criminal cases against them.
