Patna, March 18: The prison walls and iron shackles are no bondage to prevent one from participating in the elections. After all, it is a “festival of democracy”.
Scores of people lodged in different jails will file nomination papers, hundreds of kilometres away, for the upcoming panchayat polls in Bihar. The inmates, however, enjoy the luxury of police escort for filing their nomination papers, that too at the cost of the state exchequer.
Residents of Dullipatti village under Jai Nagar sub-division in Madhubani district on the India-Nepal border were taken aback when they came to know that Krishna Kumar Thakur, lodged in Beur Central jail in Patna, was preparing to contest the panchayat elections from Dullipatti gram panchayat.
Thakur, along with four others, was arrested from his ancestral house in August 2010 in connection with the kidnapping of two youths from Patna. A Patna police team had rescued the captives with the help of Jay Nagar police. Thakur was earlier arrested in connection with cases of forgery and extortion lodged with Jay Nagar police station.
Inspector-general (prison) Ramesh Lal told The Telegraph that Thakur was sent to Jay Nagar from Beur Central Jail on March 14 for filing his nomination papers for the ensuing panchayat elections under tight security. “The undertrial prisoner was taken to Jay Nagar on the order of the chief judicial magistrate, Patna,” he said. Thakur, 35, had to cover a distance of about 200km to file the nomination papers. “Thakur left for Jay Nagar on March 14 and returned to Patna on March 15,” the IG (prison) said.
Thakur is not alone to contest the election from behind the bar. Surendra Prasad Yadav, who is lodged in the Madhubani district jail, has filed his nomination paper from Belhi West panchayat in Madhubani district. Yadav too was escorted from Madhubani district jail to Jay Nagar to submit his papers. Yadav is an aspirant of a ward member’s post.
Sources said Yadav, who is facing charges of extortion and attempt to murder, was elected a ward councillor in the 2001 and 2006 elections. “He looks to be elected for the third time on the post,” said a source close to Yadav’s family. He said Yadav was a formidable candidate as he enjoyed political clout in the area.
But the case of Bhola Saday is different. He was taken into custody as he went to submit his papers. “An arrest warrant was issued by a local court against him and it was pending for execution. He was taken into custody soon after he submitted his papers,” said returning officer of Jay Nagar, Sanjay Kumar.
Over 200 former mukhiyas of Sitamarhi recently heaved a sigh of relief after Patna High Court stayed their arrest in connection to the alleged financial irregularities in purchase of solar lights worth Rs 18 crore. A dozen mukhiyas were arrested when they reached the office of the returning officer to submit their papers.
