This Article is From Oct 09, 2010

Bihar elections: The hall of shame

Bihar elections: The hall of shame
Patna: ''I can say this with pride that the RJD has not given tickets to people with criminal background.''

Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) president Lalu Prasad Yadav was caught boasting about this achievement of his party, but contrary to what he said, a survey done by an NGO has thrown out shocking figures defeating Lalu's claim outright.

Data compiled by the NGO Election Watch, reveals that 33 of the RJD's 118 candidates, declared so far, have criminal backgrounds. Charges against some of them include murder and attempt to murder.

Not very far behind is Janata Dal United(JD(U)). Adding to the hall of shame, it has issued tickets to proxy candidates of hardened criminals convicted by courts like Munna Shukla, the JD(U) MLA from Lalaganj.

Munna was sentenced to life in 2009 for the murder of a Bihar Minister in 1998, so the party has given a ticket to his wife Annu Shukla from the same constituency.

Moving further, the Congress and the Lok Janshakti Party(LJP), the two other big players in this election, do not appear clean either.

Congress has so far fielded 9 candidates with criminal backgrounds and LJP has fielded 13 candidates with criminal backgrounds.

''Look, political parties have their own compulsions. We are not supposed to be pious at the end of the day, are we?,'' said Shivanand Tiwari the National Spokesperson for JD(U), confirming unabashedly that the figures are indeed right.
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