BJP chief Amit Shah fears fireworks in Pakistan if the NDA loses Bihar. Closer home, the Centre wants to ensure all crackers burst in the state on Diwali are "Made in India".

Fancy Chinese fireworks that have been lighting up Diwali for the past few years will be out of reach as the Centre has issued a directive according to which, all states are to take action against any shipment of crackers from China. All imported crackers will be treated as illegal.

Chinese crackers take up a very small share of the Patna cracker market but district magistrate Pratima S. Verma said the administration will keep a close tab on the sale of such crackers in the wholesale markets.

"The sub-divisional officers have been instructed to issue temporary licenses to the cracker shops in adherence with the norms," she said.

Shopkeepers of the wholesale market in Patna City claimed that Chinese crackers form only around 10 per cent of the sales. "The sale of Chinese crackers has not been more than 10 per cent. None of the shops got Chinese crackers this year. Majority of them are brought from Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu," said Twinkle Kumar, a cracker seller in Patna City.

Sivakasi, the fireworks hub of India, has played a key role in the prohibition of Chinese crackers in the country. Several fireworks associations from Sivakasi filed a PIL at the Madras High Court in 2014. The Centre issued the directive following the hearing.

No license for the import of crackers had been issued by the central government under the provisions of the Explosives Act, 2008. "The Centre has not issued any clearance for the import of Chinese crackers and has asked all state governments to take action against any such shipment," Union minister of state for commerce and industries Nirmala Sitharaman had said in Chennai on September 13.

Chemicals used in Chinese crackers are more harmful than those in Indian crackers. "The price of Chinese crackers is quite low but they are very risky as they burst very easily," said Rajesh Kumar, a cracker seller in Patna City.

Shopkeepers in Patna City wholesale market claimed there had been a rise in the prices of crackers by 15 to 20 per cent, this year. A number of shopkeepers attributed the rise to reduced supply of crackers because of the restrictions for elections.

"We have not been able to buy a good stock of crackers this time because of the restrictions imposed on the amount of cash to be carried during elections and the requisition of vehicles. The reduced supply has pushed up the prices. The sales are also comparatively lower as a number of our buyers from north Bihar have still not come to the market because polls are yet to be held in those areas," said Rajesh.

There are around 70 cracker shops, retail as well as wholesale, in Patna City between Paschim Darwaja and Chauk Thana, and most of them started selling their wares from Thursday, a day after polls were held in Patna. The only Chinese products seen at the market were small cracker-guns, priced between Rs 10 and 20.