Gopalganj, 26 October .

As the Bihar Assembly elections are approaching, electoral activity is visible in the six assembly constituencies of the district, but the silence of the voters has increased the concern of the candidates. Public relations campaign has intensified in every village. Candidates of every party are going door to door with their supporters seeking votes, but the public is silent at the moment.

This time there is a contest between the candidates of NDA, UPA, BSP and Jansuraj. At the same time, independent candidates are also active at their level and are leaving no stone unturned in campaigning. Efforts are on to woo voters through small meetings, street meetings and padayatras in the villages. Despite this, voters are still not expressing their views. Political analysts of the district say that this time the election is becoming an election of completely silent voters.

Candidates and workers are roaming door to door, but people are not openly supporting anyone. When he is asked about his voting trend, he smiles and becomes silent. This time BJP has fielded a new face, Subash Singh, from Gopalganj Sadar Assembly. At the same time, UPA has expressed confidence in Congress youth leader Omprakash Garg. Indira Devi, wife of former MP Sadhu Yadav, is riding an elephant on the BSP ticket. The equations in Barauli Assembly are also interesting.

Manjeet Kumar Singh of JDU is in the fray from NDA, while RJD has fielded Dilip Kumar Singh from UPA. Angered by not getting the ticket, former MLA Reyajul Haq Raju has joined BSP, while Jansuraj Party has fielded educationist Faiz Ahmed as its candidate. In Bhore Assembly, JDU has again expressed confidence in its old candidate Sunil Kumar. On the other hand, CPI-ML has fielded former JNU student leader Dhananjay Paswan, who is contesting the elections in place of jailed leader Jitendra Paswan.

This time also the contest in Kuchayakot Assembly is interesting. From NDA, JDU has fielded Amarendra alias Pappu Pandey, a five-time MLA, as its candidate, while Congress has placed its bet on Harinarayan Singh. Political experts say that this time’s election in District 6 Assembly may repeat the four old equations and give a chance to two new faces.

Both NDA and UPA have made the competition more exciting by giving tickets to new candidates on many seats. However, till now the election environment has not been completely created in the villages. A big reason for this is that people are currently busy in preparations for Chhath Mahaparva. In rural areas, people are busy cleaning houses, decorating ghats and preparing for puja. There are political discussions, but no echo of open support is heard. Local people believe that after the Chhath festival, the election atmosphere will be full of colours. Then the pace of public meetings, road shows and publicity will increase. At present the situation is that the leaders are speaking, but the voters are silent. And this silence may prove to be the biggest determinant of the election results this time.

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/ Akhilanand Mishra