My Columns: Without Fear and Favour

Why does Jharkhand have five-phase elections ? By  Deepak Parvatiyar November 4, 2014 What does the Election Commission’s decision to hold f ive-phase election in Jharkhand  signify? It does mean equating Jharkhand with the troubled Jammu & Kashmir for all the wrong reasons. Both the states go to polls in five phases between November 23 and December 20, this year. Can Jharkhand and J&K be compared? The EC decision reflects on a very serious aspect of militancy – that the home-brewed insurgency today matches the scale of Pakistan-sponsored insurgency in the troubled Jammu & Kashmir at least in terms of containing such conflicts. The 2009 state Assembly elections too were five-phased and this is the second time in succession that elections are being held in five phases in Jharkhand. Yet in 2005, the elections were held in three phases only as the naxal menace was not that pronounced in the state then! That the left wing militancy could grip new

Naxal Shadow over upcoming Jharkhand Elections By  Deepak Parvatiyar November 4, 2014 Naxals influence politics in Jharkhand in more ways than one. On the one hand, their boycott calls mean that  elections  are invariably held under the shadow of terror in the state; on the other hand, contradicting their boycott call, they even sponsor their supporters as candidates in the electoral fray! Consider the elections for the 16th Lok Sabha earlier this year — The outlawed naxal outfit Communist Party of India (Maoist) had supported the independent candidate Mahadev Rabinath Pahan, a cousin of a zonal Maoist commander Kundan Pahan who carries a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head, from the Khunti Lok Sabha constituency. Naxal-Supported Candidates, Common Feature of Jharkhand Polls In the 2009 general elections, a former  Maoist central committee member Kameshwar Baitha, who faced 53 criminal cases in various courts including those of killing of 17 PAC jawans and div