PATNA, 25 March 2005 — Across Bihar, tens of thousands of people are feeling the lacuna of having no legislators and, in some cases even missing the deputies they elected, not because they are popular, but because the poor masses have no one to turn to when tackling officialdom. Another reason for the deputies being literally missed is that they are either in jail or on the run from the law.
Bizarre as it may seem, 11 legislators who won assembly elections last month in this lawless state have been put behind bars for various crimes. Two others wanted by police are absconding. While the imposition of president’s rule in the state following a fractured poll verdict may have robbed the elected representatives of much of their aura, the deputies remain in demand in the state’s rural areas where access to officials is uncertain or in many cases nearly impossible.
Those who can’t reach bureaucrats and officials say that legislators remain their only hope in addressing problems. “We expected a legislator who could solve our grievances, but he is in jail and unlikely to help us,” complains Subodh Paswan, 56, a resident of Rupauli in Purnia district.
Rupali voted for Shankar Singh of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). He allegedly heads a private militia and defeated Bima Bharti, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate and the wife of fellow prisoner Awadesh Mandal.
Ramnaresh Sharma, a village teacher in Belaganj constituency in Gaya district, says the local legislator — RJD’s Surendra Prasad Yadav — has not visited the constituency even once since last month.
How can he? Yadav is lodged in Gaya central jail. “People will have to wait till he (Yadav) comes out on bail,” Sharma says.
Among the LJP legislators serving prison terms are Manoranjan Singh (Bariyarpur), Rama Singh (Mahnar) and Sheel Kumar Rai (Dalsighnsarai). Independent Tarkeshwar Singh (Masrakh), Satyadev Ram (Mairwa) and Amarnath Yadav (Darauli) from the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and RJD’s Prahlad Yadav (Suryagarh) are also in jail. So is Bharatiya Janata Party’s Nityanand Rai, the Hajipur legislator. Another independent, Taushif Alam (Bahadurganj), was released from prison last week.
Gobind Mahto, 39, a businessman from Samastipur, says people are to blame if they elect legislators jailed for crimes. Bihar jails reported major celebrations last month when several inmates won the elections. Sweets were distributed and fellow prisoners smeared each other with colors.
While the whereabouts of other deputies are known, two legislators can’t be reached because they are busy dodging the law. Mahboob Alam of the CPI (ML) has been on the run for 15 years. A Barsaoi legislator, he faces several criminal cases related to a land dispute. And Janata Dal-United legislator Bhagwan Singh (Jagdishpur), against whom many cases are pending, is untraceable even as the Patna High Court last week ordered his arrest.
