Ganga Bhalotia (centre) on a door-to-door campaign in Chas on Monday. Picture by Pankaj Singh

Bokaro, June 14: The June 18 municipal polls aren’t meant to be fought on party lines. Yet, politicians of several national and regional parties are brazenly throwing their weight behind candidates of Chas that will be electing a nagar parishad for the first time.

The post of chairman and 12 of 30 wards have been reserved for women in Chas with an electorate of around 87,000. Campaigning has become an expensive affair and local residents claim that almost all the 27 candidates vying for the chairman’s post have spent around Rs 20 lakh each.

They have all roped in senior leaders of the BJP, JMM, JVM, Samajwadi Party and the Congress to boost their chances in the elections. Among the prominent faces that have been seen campaigning were Hemant Soren, Basant Soren, Samresh Singh, R.K. Singh, Virendra Singh, S.K Datta and Rajesh Thakur.

The fight for the chairman’s post has become a prestige issue. There are 27 nominees in the fray, but the contest seems to have narrowed down to Arti Rana (backed by the BJP), entrepreneur Ganga Bhalotia, social worker Basanti Devi, community leader Hasina Khatun, Tripti Ghoshal (backed by JVM), Usha Somani and Krishna Devi, who is the daughter in-law of senior SP leader Virendra Singh.

If money power is being flaunted, candidates are also campaigning on caste and community lines.

Muslims account for nearly 17,000 votes followed by the Bauri caste that has over 12,000 votes.

The Bania community comprising Marwaris and those belonging to the Teli and Sao caste account for 16,000 votes, followed by the rest including Rajputs, Mahtos, Bengalis and scheduled castes.

Bokaro MLA Samresh Singh has a lot at stake in these polls. His wife, Bharti Singh, is canvassing for Ghoshal and asking JVM supporters to ensure her victory.

Though Rana is banking on BJP and RSS votes, Bhalotia is leaving no stone unturned to woo the trader community of Chas promising her best if she won the election.

Hasina Khatun is hoping the Mulsims vote for her en-bloc. Her husband, Mohammad Sultan of JMM, is personally appealing to voters of his community to ensure their votes weren’t split.

Basanti Devi is the dark horse and she is banking heavily on the less affluent Bauri voters. She is appealing to them to vote according to their conscience and not get swayed by those who were offering to buy their votes.

Voters, however, aren’t talking about their preferences. They are only ruing the blatant show of money power. Ram Babu Sahu of Chas market said that the way people were spending money, this did not seem like local polls.

“Bina phayda ke koi 30 lakh rupiya kharch kyon karega sonchne ki baat hai (Why will one spend 30 lakhs rupees without thinking of any return? This needs to be thought about),” he said.

Chas’s prominent hotelier Shibu Datta said he and his family members would decide on whom to vote the day before elections. “Now, I am only listening to the tall promises of candidates. The truth is that only money and caste are playing a role in the Chas Nagar Parishad elections,” he lamented.

EOM