Union Minister and Lok Jan shakti Party (Ram Vilas) President Chirag Paswan confidently predicted the return of Nitish Kumar as Bihar’s Chief Minister after the forthcoming state assembly elections.
After addressing the media, Paswan asserted that the NDA is united and set for victory later this year under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He coined the NDA as a winning combination, ensuring that the public mandate would support this alliance. Paswan, the MP from Hajipur in Bihar, said the NDA is a “winning combination” for the elections and reiterated his commitment towards Prime Minister Modi.
The announcement has gained ground within political speculation, with the NDA Bihar leadership coy in light of Nitish Kumar’s several recent shifts in political allegiance. Despite having criticized Kumar’s governance in the past, Paswan now seems to have put all his chips behind that NDA electoral strategy.
According to Paswan, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral records has been carried out four times before with no changes other than the recent integration of digital technologies. “Earlier, one used to go for physical documentation and now online you can submit,” he stated.
Incredibly, Chirag Paswan’s comments follow a short distance in time after his scathing critiques of law and order in Bihar. Only days earlier, he expressed regret at having ever supported a government which he deemed to have surrendered to criminals.
He added that while bad governance worried him, he would remain bound to the NDA and its leaders. This balancing act shows the strains within the alliance, as it is the custom for the junior partners to air grievances publicly while supporting the coalition overall. In this sense, endorsing Nitish Kumar as CM face could also be a clear strategy for him to ensure the NDA remains cohesive in the looming high-stake electoral battle ahead of the state.
On its Defense from Election Process
Paswan added his defense of the Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls being done digitally against the opposition’s charge on the manipulation of voter rolls. He put down claims of unfairly deleting names, assuring that the process is done with utmost transparency.
According to him, such allegations are politically motivated, aimed at undermining the credibility of the electoral process. His defense of the digital process itself fortifies NDA’s image of confidence in spirit and legality of the upcoming polls.
He pointed out that the opposition was the one that complained to the Election Commission about irregularities in voter lists following each election. “EVMs are fine now, voter lists are an issue for them.” According to the minister, the procedure would finally be applied nationwide.
“A thorough revision is required. The list is ongoing and includes the names of some deceased people. Coincidentally, Bihar is where SIR is used. It will be carried out in the upcoming days in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, where elections are scheduled, and eventually throughout the nation.”
Responding to RJD MP Manoj Jha’s suggestion about sending a fact-finding committee to Bihar to assess the law-and-order situation, Paswan said, “I am a Bihari. I need not send a committee to understand the situation in my state.
