Why does Jharkhand have five-phase elections ?

By Deepak Parvatiyar

November 4, 2014

What does the Election Commission’s decision to hold five-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 born states such as Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand, does put a question mark on the rationale of smaller states which are being demanded and recently being carved out on the issue of better governance.  It is tragic that a mineral-rich state born just about 14 years ago finds itself being at par with the troubled J&K.

Yet unlike Jharkhand, difficult snowy terrains of J&K too contribute largely to the decision to hold five-phase elections in the northern state. In fact in the winter of 2008 the EC had initially provided a seven-phase election schedule but had finally brought it down to five phases in J&K.

Jharkhand: The Hotbed of Naxal Violence

It goes without saying that Jharkhand today is a hotbed of the naxal movement and 22 of its 24 districts are naxal-affected. Reports suggest that the naxals today have ‘liberated’ many regions where the state administration has no reach at all. In these red zones, the left wing terror groups enforce their own laws on the poor. Besides, no development work is either allowed without paying ‘taxes’ to these ultras in these red zones of the state. In the absence of a firm government, they rule by the barrel of their guns and by spreading terror. Just imagine that on 22 April 2009, the naxals even hijacked a train with at least 300 people on board in Jharkhand and forced it to Latehar district before fleeing!

Superficially, the plight of the state could be attributed to the political and financial instability in the wake of continued fractured verdicts in the subsequent Assembly elections in the state.  The political parties and the politician-contractor-mining mafia nexus have been largely responsible for the plundering the resources in a state that accounts for India’s 40 per cent mineral deposits.

Jharkhand: Mineral-Rich but Bankrupt State

Just consider the fact that in undivided Bihar, the southern part of the state (present day Jharkhand) accounted for about 60 per cent of its revenue. But today, Jharkhand is under a debt of Rs 34, 868 crore!

The reasons for this bankruptcy are not hard to know. One still remembers how an independent MLA (Madhu Koda) could become the chief minister of the state with the support of self-serving political parties who, obviously, wanted a larger share of pie in this one man’s success. The Koda government ruled for 709 days and accumulated great wealth through dubious means. Koda relinquished the CM’s chair on 23 August 2008 and a year later, he was arrested for his involvement in a mining scam that had cost the state exchequer a whopping Rs 4,000 crore as per rough estimates. His properties worth Rs 144 crore too were attached by a Special Court in Delhi in a disproportionate assets case against his alleged associates.

Koda’s is not an isolated case but rather throws ample light on the ‘hand-in-glove’ syndrome of Jharkhand politics. Consider that in the last 14 years since the state was formed on 15th November 2000, Jharkhand has already seen nine governments!

Jharkhand Political Parties: Disconnect with People

On the surface, it is easier to blame fractured verdicts for the instability of the governments but the larger question that begs an answer is:  Why those political parties that could get the chance to be in the government in the state, could not win the confidence of the electorates?

Decadent politics has been the order of the day where alliances are devoid of any ideology. Even a party such as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which otherwise preaches political prudence and probity, cannot be insulated from opportunistic politics in Jharkhand. How else could one explain the Lotus making and breaking alliances with almost all regional parties, if not to rule for the longest period in the state since its inception?

Governance has taken a back seat in the wake of the insidious effect of expedient politics in the state. As many as 16 Chief Secretaries and 10 Director Generals of Police were changed in the 14 years of Jharkhand’s formation.

Obviously, the EC decision to hold five-phase elections in the state has irked politicians no bound as they claim the schedule to be “too exhaustive”.

They refer to the ‘peaceful’ Lok Sabha elections of April-May 2014 to buttress their claim that such a prolonged phase was not needed at all.

Besides, the regional parties of the state also feel that 26 days of electioneering would dig deep holes in their pockets and would benefit only bigger parties and their logic sounds genuine – The BJP has decided to go all alone in the state; the Congress has broken its alliance with the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM); and the alliance talks between the Congress and the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) of former CM Babulal Marandi have fallen through.

But could the EC take any chance in the wake of the Naxal menace in the state? It is high time for the politicians to realise that it is all because of their own doing.