The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday found RJD chief Lalu Prasad guilty of violating the model code of conduct in his election campaign speeches and asked him to strictly follow the code provisions and restrain his utterances.
The warning came after an FIR was lodged against Lalu on the EC's instructions for his speech given at Raghopur in Vaishali district on September 27 in which he had portrayed the Assembly elections as a fight between backward and forward castes.
The commission had sent a notice to the RJD leader and demanded his reply to the allegations of violation of the model code. It had also sought a report from Vaishali district magistrate over the issue.
"The EC reviewed the reply submitted by Lalu and found him guilty of violating two sections of the model code of conduct. He has been warned and asked to strictly follow the provisions of the code in future and practise restraint," said Bihar additional chief electoral officer R. Laxmanan, while addressing mediapersons.
While Laxmanan didn't elaborate, sources in the commission said Lalu was held guilty under provisions of the model code of conduct. The EC, which can even bar a candidate from campaigning, decided to issue a warning first. "A second-time violation of the provision may attract harsher view of the commission," added the source.
With around 1 lakh terriers on the ground and helicopters and drones in the sky, the EC has literally moved heaven and earth to ensure a smooth second poll phase on Friday, billed as the toughest and riskiest of the five.
All the 32 constituencies going to polls on Friday are spread across six Left-wing extremism-affected districts - Arwal, Jehanabad, Gaya, Aurangabad, Rohtas and Kaimur.
Election in the 11 constituencies marked by the EC as "severely Maoist-affected" would be conducted between 7am and 3pm instead of the normal 7am to 5pm. For 12 constituencies marked as "moderately Maoist-affected," the timing would be 7am to 4pm.
Laxmanan said: "All preparations for smooth conduct of polls are in place. A total of 997 companies of central paramilitary armed forces have been deployed to cover all 9,119 polling stations. All election polling and patrol parties are reaching their destinations."
The poll-bound districts have witnessed several incidents of violence over the past few years, which killed a number of security personnel.
Inspector-general of police (operations) Sushil M. Khopde admitted the risk of Maoist strikes, as several improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and a large quantity of explosives had been recovered during de-mining, area domination and road sanitisation operations from the poll-bound districts.
"Posters put up by Maoists calling for poll boycott have been seized from several places in Gaya district and we are making all-out efforts to ensure that people come out to vote without any fear. The Jharkhand border, along four of the six districts, has been sealed to check movement of Maoists," Khopde said.
The IG (operations) added that two helicopters of the air force and one of CRPF would be used to patrol the skies over poll-bound areas. Surveillance drones have been deployed while an air ambulance would be ready to fly in case of any eventuality.
CRPF Bihar sector IG Arun Kumar said three of the six districts are considered the most sensitive among Left-wing extremism-affected districts in the state and satellite trackers are being used to keep tabs on developments in them.
On Thursday, security forces recovered six IEDs planted in and around school campuses in Gaya, which would serve as polling stations. All the IEDs were destroyed in situ.
CRPF deputy inspector-general of police (DIG) Chiranjeev Prasad revealed that bomb disposal squads briefed by experts from IED School in Pune, who had come to Bihar especially with the elections in view, are working continuously to negate the threat from explosives.
Intelligence sources said the Arwal-Jehanabad area would be the area to watch out for Maoist attacks as a new leader, identified as Pradyuman Sharma, has emerged there and he would try hard to establish his sway over the Magadh zone under which these two districts fall.
Additional reporting by Alok Kumar in Gaya
