The Congress high command has stopped the list of candidates for the second and third phases of the Bihar Assembly elections from being issued after gross irregularities came to light in the first list of the contestants.
This has led to an inordinate delay and left the probable candidates on tenterhooks, as the last date for filing nominations for the second phase is on Friday. None of the party workers of the constituencies concerned know who is going to contest the polls.
A fresh list is expected on Wednesday evening. The Congress is contesting 70 out of 243 seats in the state. It is in alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Left parties.
The “grand old party” had released its first list last week towards the fag end of the nomination deadline. It contained 21 candidates for the first phase of the elections on October 28. The remaining two phases would be held on November 3 and 7, with counting of votes on November 10.
The top leadership of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) came to learn about the problems after several veteran party leaders started protesting when the first list came out.
“Social equations were completely ignored in the first list. Ours is a national party and truly cares about all sections of the society, but undue priority was given to a couple of castes. Not a single candidate hailed from the minority community.
“The list reeked of the fiefdom of a few leaders who hold our party hostage in Bihar,” a senior Congress leader told The Telegraph on the condition of anonymity.
Sources in the party pointed out how two tainted leaders were made candidates from Tekari and Jamalpur, but were withdrawn later after the AICC’s intervention following an outcry from the state Congress leaders.
One of them is said to be an accused in crimes against women.
“Senior and dedicated party leaders or workers were ignored in the list. Preference was given to those who had connections with the leaders screening the candidates. Some do not belong to the place from where they are contesting.
“ At least three candidates are newcomers and had joined our party a couple of years ago with Rajya Sabha member Akhilesh Prasad Singh, who came after a long stint with the RJD, and is considered close to Lalu Prasad,” a Congress source said.
Congress leaders also said that an accused in a sex scandal that happened in a Patna hotel a few years ago has been made a candidate from one of the south Bihar seats.
It was due to all these issues that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and others had to intervene. They would have changed the entire list but for the paucity of time as the last date for filing nominations was very close.
Still, they recalled two of the candidates from the first list.
The Congress’s central election committee would finalise the names of the remaining 49 candidates on Wednesday evening after consulting senior party leaders at the Centre and in the state.
However, the Congress is facing problems in finalising candidates for several seats like Maharajganj where contestants from other areas want to fight after losing their constituencies to the Grand Alliance in the seat-sharing deal.
Asked about the delay in the list of candidates for the second and third phases of polls, Congress spokesperson and former MLA Harkhu Jha denied that there were any problems within the party.
“The delay has been caused because the names of a few constituencies on which our party is to contest are yet to be finalised in consultation with our alliance partner RJD. However, the needful would be done by tomorrow (Wednesday),” Jha said.
