Bihar Nagar Nikay Result: Municipal elections of Bihar gave a big message for Grand Alliance, understand in three points

Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav
– Photo: Amar Ujala

The results of mayor, deputy mayor and councilors have come in 17 municipal corporations of Bihar. These results have surprised everyone. Even though these were not party elections, but the Grand Alliance, which is in power in Bihar, has got a big political message from these results. If we look at the results, women have become mayors in 16 cities except Gaya. That too when only seven seats were reserved for women. It means that this time women have been stung in the municipal elections.

Bharatiya Janata Party-backed mayors have been elected in six out of 17 municipal corporations, while Mahathbandhan-backed candidates have won only six. Congress-backed Anita Ram has been elected mayor from Samastipur. Independent candidates hoisted the flag on four others.

These results are considered very important for the politics of Bihar, because three months ago, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar broke the alliance with the BJP and formed the government of the Grand Alliance. In such a situation, these results are being considered as a big message for the upcoming Lok Sabha and then assembly elections. Let’s understand…

Know the election results of the first mayor and deputy mayor
Elections of Mayor and Deputy Mayor were held in 17 Municipal Corporations of Bihar. Apart from this, the results of elections held for Chief Councilor and Deputy Chief Councilor in 49 Nagar Panchayats and two Municipal Councils have also come. If you look at the results, out of 17 municipal corporations where elections were held for mayors, Bharatiya Janata Party-backed candidates won in six. These include Sita Sahu in Patna, Dr. Vasundhara Lal in Bhagalpur, Nirmala Devi in ​​Muzaffarpur, Usha Devi Agarwal in Katihar, Indu Devi from Ara, Rakhi Gupta from Chhapra.

On the other hand, Mahagathbandhan-supported candidates of Gaya, Virendra Kumar alias Ganesh Paswan, Preeti Gupta of Motihari, Vibha Kumari of Purnea, Kumkum Devi of Munger and Pinky Devi of Begusarai won the elections. Means RJD, JDU supported candidates contested elections together, yet only six candidates could become mayor, while BJP alone made its six candidates mayor. Talking about Deputy Mayor, three candidates supported by BJP and five supported by Grand Alliance won the elections. Overall, three of the four big municipal corporations of Bihar have been captured by the Bharatiya Janata Party this time, while only one municipal corporation has gone into the account of the Grand Alliance.

Why did the grand alliance remain at par with the BJP?
To understand this, we spoke to Pramod Kumar Singh, a senior journalist and analyst who understands the politics of Bihar. He said, ‘If the results of the municipal elections are not a defeat of the grand alliance, then there is no victory either. Three political parties are the strongest in Bihar during this period. RJD, JDU and then BJP. RJD and JDU contested this election together and still could reach only at par with BJP. However, the BJP has also defeated the Grand Alliance in a way, as the saffron flag has been hoisted on three of the four major municipal corporations of the state. This is a big symbolic victory of the BJP and alarm bells for the Grand Alliance.

Why was the Grand Alliance defeated in this election?

1. Changing sides of Nitish sent wrong message
In 2013, Nitish Kumar parted ways with the BJP in Bihar when the Bharatiya Janata Party declared Narendra Modi, the then chief minister of Gujarat, as its prime ministerial candidate. Nitish went with the CPI and fought the 2014 Lok Sabha elections together. However, the election results had put Nitish Kumar on the back foot. The BJP had won 31 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. After this Nitish Kumar came back with BJP. Nitish Kumar did the same during the 2015 assembly elections.

Leaving the BJP, he joined the Grand Alliance. Even then the BJP single-handedly fought the Grand Alliance. However, even during that time Nitish Kumar could not stay in the Grand Alliance for a long time. By 2017, he changed sides and then joined the BJP. After this, contested the elections together in 2020 and this year again left the NDA and joined the Grand Alliance. The wrong message of Nitish changing sides again and again went to the public. People felt that Nitish Kumar was doing this only to remain in power. This is the reason that even the voters have now started liking the Grand Alliance less.

2. The anger of the youth, the liquor scandal also showed its effect.
The anger of the youth and the influence of the liquor scandal was also seen in the municipal elections. Before the elections, the Bihar police lathi-charged the youths who were seeking employment. Before coming to power, Tejashwi Yadav always used to talk about employment. When they got power, the youth were lathicharged. Its wrong message went among the youth of the entire state and the results are in front of everyone. Similarly, the Bihar liquor scandal also caused huge damage to the Grand Alliance. Nitish Kumar’s statement hurt people more than the liquor scandal. More than 60 people had died in three districts of Bihar after drinking spurious liquor and the Chief Minister had given a statement that whoever drinks it will die. There is no sympathy for the dead.

Analysts say that this statement hurt people a lot. People said that being the head of the state, Nitish Kumar should not be insensitive in this way. The person who died died, but what was the fault of his family? Why didn’t the government give them any help? BJP also raised both these issues vigorously and it also got its benefit.

What message are these results giving?
Analysts say that Nitish Kumar wants to become the prime ministerial candidate in 2024 from the opposition. It is said that an agreement was also reached between RJD and JDU on this matter. According to this agreement, before 2024, Nitish Kumar will go into the politics of the Center and will hand over the power of Bihar to Tejashwi Yadav. In such a situation, first the Kudhani by-election and now the municipal elections have worked to bring the Grand Alliance on the backfoot in a way.

He further says that the results of Kudhani and then of the municipal body are in a way a warning for the Bihar government. RJD and JDU have made a lot of announcements, which are taking time to complete. In such a situation, the displeasure of the people is increasing. Its effect was also seen in these elections. The Grand Alliance focused on backward castes. To counter this, the BJP has started trying to bring Dalit and upper caste voters together. Apart from this, the party has prepared a formula for burglary even among the backward voters. After Kudhani, the BJP moved forward with the same formula in the municipal elections as well. Now the work will be done to strengthen it in the Lok Sabha elections also.

Detailed

The results of mayor, deputy mayor and councilors have come in 17 municipal corporations of Bihar. These results have surprised everyone. Even though these were not party elections, but the Grand Alliance, which is in power in Bihar, has got a big political message from these results. If we look at the results, women have become mayors in 16 cities except Gaya. That too when only seven seats were reserved for women. It means that this time women have been stung in the municipal elections.

Bharatiya Janata Party-backed mayors have been elected in six out of 17 municipal corporations, while Mahathbandhan-backed candidates have won only six. Congress-backed Anita Ram has been elected mayor from Samastipur. Independent candidates hoisted the flag on four others.

These results are considered very important for the politics of Bihar, because three months ago, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar broke the alliance with the BJP and formed the government of the Grand Alliance. In such a situation, these results are being considered as a big message for the upcoming Lok Sabha and then assembly elections. Let’s understand…