The fear of Maoists and the frequently alleged nexus between Jharkhand’s politicians and the rebels hung thick in the air on Friday as the bypoll for Jamshedpur Lok Sabha constituency was conducted peacefully with only 48 per cent votes polled amid tight security arrangements.
Besides a statewide shutdown called by the Maoists in protest against the death sentence awarded to four rebels on June 24, other reasons attributed for this intensely contested bypoll’s failure to attract the constituency’s 13.97 lakh voters in high numbers to the polling booths included the restricted polling duration (7 am to 3 pm) and a general disillusionment among voters. This, analysts said, was primarily because all the allies in the ruling and Opposition alliances were in the fray among the total 20 contestants.
Urban voters in the constituency, home to the Tatas’ factories and Jharkhand’s industrial and mining hub, remained indifferent with only about 35 per cent of them having voted, said sources. While only about nine per cent of votes were polled in the first two hours, the figures were just 40 per cent by 2 pm. The bypoll, described as a “Munda-Soren-Marandi contest”, was a direct fight mainly among six parties — BJP, JMM, JVM(P), Congress, AJSU and Trinamul Congress.
As polling continued, senior BJP leader Saryu Rai’s revelation of an audio CD purportedly carrying campaign-time conversation between the JVM(P) candidate Ajay Kumar and one Maoist leader called Samarjee seemed to expose yet another instance of the alleged nexus. It led to an exchange of tirades between the two parties.