Cartoon-Bihar Polls



So finally, the JD(U)-BJP combine seems to have brought the 15-year-long Laloo-Rabri Raj to an end in Bihar. With the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U)-BJP combine set to claim close to 150 seats and the RJD-Congress likely to get a meagre 70 seats in a 243-seat Bihar Assembly, it is a virtual clean-sweep for the two major NDA partners.



Paswan Cut to Size: As for Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP, the battered and fragmented party is unlikely to cross 18-MLAs mark. Poor guy, the “kingmaker” of the March 2005 elections had to eat a humble pie this time for his fault of trying to bite more than he could chew when he had more and better “food options”. Today, he stands in an extremely unenviable position, where instead of playing the role of a “king-maker”, his stature has been reduced to that of a “king-watcher”; he will have to be content with merely watching the coronation of a king, Nitish Kumar, helplessly. Never mind, it’s all part of the game, Mr. Paswan.



A Boon in Disguise: However, I would insist that if today Bihar is celebrating a second Diwali following the ouster of Lalu’s RJD, and if NDA leaders will soon be moving up and down in the State Secretariat, they must be thankful to Ram Vilas Paswan; if he had not gone adamant on not siding either with RJD or NDA, today the latter wouldn’t have been celebrating their landslide victory. In other words, Paswan’s disservice has in fact proved a boon for JD(U)-BJP combine.



EC Plays its Part Well: Here omission of the excellent role played by the Election Commission of India (EC) would be almost criminal. A major factor all these years favouring the Laloo camp had been low turnout of anti-RJD voters, as they were mortally afraid of his castemen, who wouldn’t allow others to vote. But this time, with the EC hell-bent on ensuring that the elections were free and fair, it went full-steam plugging all the loopholes, thereby facilitating even Laloo-baiters coming out in large number to exercise their right to franchise. And the result is there for everybody to see.



Long live Indian democracy!