History of Electoral Violence in Bihar

 

Sanjay Kumar

Research Scholar, PG Department of Political Science, B. R. A. Bihar University, Muzaffarpur

 

ABSTRACT:

The first light of democracy on the globe was seen in Bihar about 400 BCE in Vaishali (modern Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Sitamarhi, Seohar and adjoining districts) more than two thousand years before the British rulers introduced the local self government in India. Bihar has been a socially backward caste dominated state in terms of population. However, during the British period and the first four decades post independence period, the upper caste dominated the politics of Bihar. We find that the backward castes and people of schedule castes and schedule tribes (with parts now gone with Jharkhand) who accounted about 85 to 87 % of the total population mostly remained out of the power or their presence remained symbolic. Not only they got only symbolic representation, their voters were asked to vote upon the will of their upper caste masters. Those who protested paid the cost. Freedom of India brought some change. Reservation was given to SC and ST people in the parliament and legislative bodies which gave them an opportunity to raise their representation. Although, the people of backward castes did not get any reservation, however, they realised the power of their proportion in the population and began to challenge the hegemony of upper castes. To most part of this period congress ruled the local self government bodies as well as the state government.  The politics of Bihar Congress have been always  dominated by the upper caste leaders even when the post of the Chief Minister went with Dalit leaders like Bhola Paswan Shastri.  The major part of the twentieth century, congress ruled the state. After a little stint of Janta Government, Congress returned to power in 1980 and remained till 1990. In 1990, Laloo Prasad Yadav became the chief minister of Janta Dal government. In 1991, V.P. Singh announced 27% reservation of OBCs. This changed the equation of politics in Bihar forever. Earlier, the upper caste dominated Congress party and its supporter had been causing violence in election, now in the name of social justice Laloo began to embrace all sorts of criminal elements in his party. In the 10 years Rule of Congress from 1980-1990, and 15 years of Laloo and his wife from 1990 – 2005, Bihar set records for booth capturing, pre and post pole violence. After, 2005, the situation has changed but still the incidents of peaceful booth capturing and social unrest take place in Bihar. In October- November 2015, the assembly election is purposed in the state and the peaceful elections are a challenge not only for the election commission of India and the state government but also for the people of Bihar.

 

 

 

Bihar is an important state of India. The political awareness of the people of Bihar has been a matter of discussion among scholars throughout the nation. However this so called awareness gets nowhere visible in terms of parameters of socio-economic growth. The society in Bihar is very much divided upon caste lines and violence during elections used to be a common thing in Bihar. We can also say that violence is the part and parcel of the day to day life of people in Bihar. Here, people are habituated of violence by state, violence by feudal landlords, caste violence, criminal violence and the violence that common people themselves do in order of resistance and reaction. Organised violence for political dominance is also a day by day act in Bihar. These acts also lead the further acts of violence. Violence activities during elections in Bihar are the integral part of this unending process. The incidents of violence are connected to issues of Vote, fundamental rights of people, resistance of inhuman treatment, social injustice and some other historical reasons. We observe that the immediate reason of the violence at the day to election or few days before or after, may be related to the tension and excitement of elections but their root cause always lie in the exploitation, suppression of weaker class in hand of a little but powerful class that does every possible thing to maintain its socio-economic superiority in the society. In a nutshell, we can say that violence activities in elections are the political expression of day by day violent activities in rural region of Bihar. ¹

 

In fact, there is a little group that believes that the power comes from the barrel of gun. The group tries to maintain its control upon power through the use of muscle power. It wants to win the elections upon muscle power. It captures the land of poor by the means of violence. It uses gun to suppress the sound of depressed and impoverished class for their fundamental rights. And then, in reaction, there happens counter violence. Also, we need not to think upon the classical definition of Oppressors and Oppressed being people of upper caste and lower- backward caste respectively. The previous definition has changed since 1990 and now oppressor and oppressed may be from any group of the society.

 

Bihar set new records of electoral violence in various elections since 1980 to 2010. ² Although focus of this research is the elections during 1980 to 2010, however, for better understanding of the reasons behind such acts it is required to have a brief discussion of the activities in the past. We may divide the time between two parts: first from 1966 to 1980 and second 1980 to till now. From the observance of the pattern of violent acts, we find that during 1966 to 1980, most of the violent activities were related to either the land disputes or the dispute of caste. ³ The crop loot, demand of minimum wage, bonded labour, capture on land, irrigation, Naxal movement, fishing, inter caste marriage, sexual exploitation of women of weaker sections, untouchability, and the booth capturing etc.

 

According to famous economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen the reason behind the higher rate of violence in Bihar lies in deep rooted inequality in the social structure of Bihar. The economical disparities change the form of social life, way of political activities, and priorities of the government, everything changes. Disparity often leads the social conflicts and further the violent activities. ⁴

 

By the end of 70s in the last century, most of the political leaders of Bihar believed in the fair politics. Even today there are several people who believe in fair politics. In that period, the feelings for social change and patriotism were much more than the use of money and muscle power. During those days, the landlords kept lathait (goons) but there were also volunteers of Congress, Jansangh, Communists, socialists who roamed barefoot village to village with the message of social changes. In the mean time the Communist and Socialist strengthen their base in masses through their quest for backward and untouchable class. They led various movements and agitations for the cause of people and spread their organisational support. After 1967, the Naxal Movement arose in various parts of Bihar. The mind set of major political parties changed and they turned to the criminal who could help them to win elections.³

 

In last 40-45 years a new political culture arose in Bihar. It believes in the use of money and muscle power. The political leadership patronised the criminals for their narrow interest. This class was mainly consisted of upper caste middleclass of rural regions of the state. In the meantime, the people of backward and Dalit communities also arose for their rights.
The Naxalists also targeted the same class of people which was the base of Communists and Socialists: the backward and Dalit communities. There arose agitations for land control, demand of minimum and equal wages for workers and women labourers respectively, as well as for political rights. Now this class was aware of the power of his vote. The awareness of the right to vote was like a revolution. As a result, there began widespread clashes among the groups which were rigid to continue the feudal system of supremacy of upper class and the class which was working for the poor and weaker section of rural regions of the state.

 

In the beginning, voters of weaker sections, upon convinced by the 'Babu Sahibs', often returned from the polling booths without casting their vote. When they denied their overlords and got rigid to caste their right, it led violence in rural areas. To keep them in their limits, the landlord formulated their private militias. The prime motives of all the private Militias were to suppress the rural unrest of the exploited people. It was clear that the major political parties had support for the militias. In the beginning, their support helped the militia to overrule the impoverished class but ultimately they failed to suppress the resistance movement of the weaker people in the later period of mass struggle. It led wide spread conflicts and many massacres happened in the rivalry of private militias and the challenging forces. The feudal armies used to capture the booths for the baseless leaders of all the political parties and the leaders began to be dependent upon the criminal element for their worth in politics. In the later period, the criminal realised that not only they could help the political class in winning their seat but they could also manage a victory for themselves and become the honorable MPs and MLAs.⁵

 

The political fallout in Bihar was neither sudden nor a happening of overnight. The seed of this collapse was already sown. We can see the instances of political violence from first to third general elections as well but it was the fourth general elections when the violence was observed in the erupted form. In the first election, the communist Party and the Socialist faction of the Congress Party fielded their candidates against the Congress candidate. Despite the fact they could not win, their candidature created background for political violence. Here a statement of Dr. Rajendra Prasad is relevant which has been taken from his autobiography,

‘’There was no issue with the Communists and Congress party but there happened clashes between us. I deeply feel regret that my fellow Congressmen could not protest peacefully the allegations of Communists and a volunteer of their party was given a sound beating. The Adivasis also violated the environment especially in Khunti. At one place, a few Aadivasis also got killed. When I visited Ranchi, so many victims were presented before me who had been tortured by the Adivasi Mahasabha. ⁶

 

The infiltration of criminals in the Politics of Bihar can be kept into three time spaces⁷:

(1)   1952-1967 In this period The Congress Party ruled undisputedly and kept winning the elections without having a major challenge. During elections, the methods of terrorising voters used but from curtains.

(2)   1967-1972 The Congress Party lost the power in the election of 1967 in Bihar. Congress also lost ground in the midterm election of 1969. Elections during 1967-72 witnessed the open use of criminals, violence, booth loot, use of money and all unfair means to win elections.

(3)   1977 onwards when political groups and criminals so intermingled that having criminal background became an essential qualification for a politician.

 

We find that the socialist and communist parties raised the concerns of common people of Bihar in the decades of 70s which gave them popularity among weaker sections of the society. However, the ruling Congress could not digest their growing popularity and used every possible mean to counter their impact. In 1965, police attacked a political rally of socialist party in Gandhi Maidan on the provocation of the Congress government. Prominent leaders of opposition such as Karpuri Thakur, Ramanand Tiwari and Chandrasekhar Singh were given a sound beating. The leaders remained wounded in the ground for hours and ultimately caused death of Chandrasekhar Singh. The resentment of the incident of Gandhi Maidan reflected in the defeat of Congress in 1967 state assembly polls. Again the Congress supporters are alleged to attack Madhu Limaye and thrashed him with sticks while the latter was campaigning for Lok Sabha Elections. K. Gopalan of News Age wrote in his article on 12^th Feb.1967, ⁸

 

“The ruling Congress party was adamant to make a fun of the polls in Bihar. When they realised that they remain no popular in masses, the chief minister KB Sahay and other leaders of congress used every mean to attack and threat the opposition leaders and their supporters. They appointed henchmen and scoundrels to terrorise voters and supporters of opposition parties. Only inn Patna, they made several attacks on our party workers.  Congress used money to buy votes. A slogan was quite popular in those days,’’ Sahay se note lo, Mahamaya ko vote do’’. ⁹ (Take money from Sahay and vote for Mahamaya).

 

India witnessed first mid-term general elections in 1969. The first time in history, political violence was watched so closely by the people of Bihar. At least four people were shot dead and more than two hundred got seriously wounded. At least seven people were killed in the clashes t various polling booths and 150 got wounded. More than 150 people were arrested by the police for allegedly disturbing the poll process.⁸

 

At least 10 to 12 people are killed every day in various forms of violent activities in Bihar. The yearly average goes around five thousands. No wonder Bihar tops in the poll related violence in India. In 1985, a question was raised regarding the violent activities in various states during elections. As per the answer given by the then Union Minister of State, Department of Home, there had been 28 incidents of poll violence in Lok Sabha and 91 in assembly elections in Bihar in comparison to 7 and 12 in Andhra Pradesh, 6 in Uttar Pradesh and 4 in Kerala, 5 in Maharashtra and only 2 in Gujarat. According to Union Home Minister, there had been a total 161 incidents of electoral violence in the country in which 119 took place in Bihar only. There were 42 activities of electoral violence in other states of India. ¹⁰

 

The study shows that there had been a rapid increase in the election related violence in Bihar post 1977 general elections and it had acquired an organised form. The 1977 elections met with 194 electoral violent incidents in which26 people got killed and more than 309 people got wounded. The death toll reached to 38 and number of wounded 788 in the elections of 1980. ¹¹

 

Chaturanan Mishra, a senior CPI leader and later Union Minister of Agriculture, had stated,

‘’The victory of Janta Party in 1977 disappointed people of feudal mentality. They aired their resentment in various forms and instigated conspiracy against the weaker section of the society. Not only they captured booths but also killed at least ten CPI workers because they opposed them to capture booths.’’ ¹²

 

 

The data provided by the election commission of India, the Union ministry of Home and the Home department of Bihar suggest that every new election in Bihar broke the previous records of violence. The assembly elections of 1985 met with 1370 instances of violent activities in which 69 people were killed and 242 were seriously wounded. There were 37 instances of pre- poll violence taking 13 lives and serious injuries to 13 people. There were 310 incidence of violence in the poll day which resulted loss of 49 lives and serious injuries to 29 people. The day of re-poll met with six incidences of violence in which two people lost their lives.¹²

 

The General Elections of 1989 met with killing of 40 people. The assembly elections also held after a few months which met with 87 deaths and serious injuries of 318 people. Police had registered 520 cases. There were frequent instances of firing. In 99 incidents, the firing was made by the supporters of various candidates where as at 36 places, police opened fire.

 

The mid-term general elections of 1991 saw 53 killings. A total of 1232 cases of violence were reported by the police. The total no of wounded also reported to be 434. 17 people lost their lives in pre-poll incidences. 18 people were killed in the first phase and 15 in the second phase of election. 3 people were killed in post-poll violence. ¹³

 

The Assembly elections of 1995 experienced more blood-shed. There were a total of 1270 cases of violence reported by the police and the administration163 got wounded and 54 lost their lives. As per the data, there were 14 causalities before poll and 12 post-poll. The number of people killed on polling day went to 28.

 

The general elections of 1996 took 42 lives in Bihar.187 people got injured. It was the first time when use of land mines was reported in Naxal and MCC hit areas. The land mines blast killed three Jawans of BMP in Jehanabad, 4 in Chatra and 1 in Hazaribagh.

 

The mid-term general elections of 1998 took 44 lives in Bihar. The number of wounded reached to 400. There were a total of 1485 incidents of electoral violence. The land mine blasts killed 14 policemen and serious injuries to their 22 colleague. The extremists also looted six rifles of the police Jawans.¹²

 

The once again mid-term general elections of 1999 broke all previous records of violence in Bihar. 76 people had been killed including 30 police personnel. The Home (special) Department, the Government of Bihar reported 452 incidents of violence in which 147 people met injuries. Land mine blasts killed 29 police Jawans and wounded 54. The land mine blasts also killed 14 civilians engaged in electoral process and wounded 93. Most of the land mine blasts occurred in the base region of MCC which had called the election boycott. Later, ‘Lal-Chingari’ (Red Flame) a mouth piece of MCC published a detailed description of attack on police teams and areas of police stations where they had called poll boycott. ¹⁴

 

The assembly elections of 2000 were also a blood pond for Bihar which sank 61 valuable lives. There happened 633 incidents of electoral violence in which 150 people got serious injuries. Nine police Jawans lost their lives in land mine blasts and 20 more suffered with serious injuries. Police opened fire at 39 places which took 15 lives. The clashes between police and common people took the life of three policemen as well.⁹

 

After a long gap of 23 years Panchayat Elections held in 2001 in Bihar. The election process took two months span and voting was held in six phases. Breaking all the records of violence in previous elections, 196 people lost their life this time. 6 people had been shot in broad day light in which 40 were candidate for various posts.15 people were killed in police firing whereas 56 lost their lives in local clashes. Three got killed in bomb explosions and 46 in other ways. Not only this, the bloodshed continued even after elections and by 2003 at least 64 Mukhiyas, ward councilors, and Panchayat members had been killed. ¹⁵

 

The efforts and strict arrangements of Election Commission of India only minimised the death toll in 2004 general elections, nonetheless 15 to 19 people got killed in electoral violence. The 279 cases of duels and brick batting were registered. 13 more people lost their lives because of heart failures caused by panic and violence. 78 people suffered with major injuries.

 

The situation turned the corner after the EC deployed a special observer, Dr K. J. Rao, to oversee security during the 2004 general elections. ¹⁶ He was again in charge of Election Commissions special arrangements for Bihar Assembly elections which held twice in 2005. The death toll went 27 this time. ¹⁷

The elections to the 15th Lok Sabha were relatively peaceful despite the claims of peaceful booth capturing at many places especially in Chhapra and Madhepura where RJD Supremo Lalu Prasad was contesting for Lok Sabha seat. Unlike earlier, not a single civilian was killed in violence related to booth capturing and clashes between political parties or caste groups in the LS polls in 2009.

 

The 2010 Assembly Elections were organised in six phases. The election was conducted under strict vigil of election commission and high level deployment of central para military forces. Two days before the second phase of voting naxals triggered a land mine in Sheohar district killing six policemen. As a result, the district's voting centres would close 2 hours earlier. The attack was seen as resurgence in naxal activity after a lull due to its timing during an election. Though the naxals had called for a boycott of the polls, the second phase ended largely unscathed. ¹⁸

 

On the fourth phase of voting more bombs were set off. In the morning Naxals were responsible for a bomb blast near a bridge on the Chakai-Jamui road in the Batia jungle. Later on "anti-social elements" set off another bomb in the Danapur assembly constituency wounding 2 people. On the eve of the fifth phase of voting, the naxals called for a 24-hour bandh. During the bandh, security services attempted to defuse a bomb planted by the naxals, however 2 bomb disposal personnel were killed. ¹⁹

 

Days before the final phase of voting a naxal boycott was enforced with a bombing of a bridge and another attack that killed near the Chenari assembly constituency, which was due to vote during the final phase. ²⁰ On the final day of voting 1 person was killed and 2 were injured when bomb exploded in a cinema hall, 2 others were also killed trying to defuse a bomb. ²¹  A bomb planted to disrupt the final day of voting in Aurangabad district was found the following day, however, the police apparently left the live bomb unattended; as a result 8 children were killed when it exploded. Despite the violence, the Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi said this was "the most peaceful election ever [held in Bihar]." ²² The general election of 16^th Lok Sabha in 2014 went peaceful and no reports of serious violence came to news. Also, no incident of booth capturing was reported.

 

 

Table: I - Repoll in Lok Sabha Elections Repoll in Assembly Elections

Lok Sabha Election Year	No. of Re-polling Booth	Election Year	No of Booths for repoll
1951-52	26	1951-52	41
1956-57	04	1956-57	04
1962	NA	1962	NA
1967	20	1967	15
1971	53	1969	20
1977	41	1972	70
1980	77	1977	07
1984	162	1980	127
1989	283	1985	295
1991	1175	1990	1239
1996	1933	1995	1668
1998	4995	2000	1420
1999	1189	2005	NA
2004	1552	2005	NA
2009	NA	2010	118
2014	NA	NA	NA

Source: Election Commission of India

Prabhat Khabar, Patna/Ranchi/Muzaffarpur, August 30, 2015.

 

As far as booth capturing is concerned, it has been also taking place in other states but in Bihar, the situation was unbearable. In 1971, repoll was conducted at 63 polling stations in which 53 were alone in Bihar. In 1984, there were a total 264 cases of repoll throughout the country in which 159 were in Bihar alone.  By 90s the ballot box was replaced by Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) which minimised the trend however, until election commission began to deploy CPMF at each polling booth, reports of EVM loots and their break ups were very frequent in Bihar.

 

We observe through the above mentioned facts that the violence in elections increased in Bihar after 1977 general elections. The incidents of 1985 attracted the attention of rest part of the country and world towards Bihar and compelled the election commission to take the process as a special case for Bihar.

 

Table II. Violence Activities in Election in Bihar (year wise) since 1985

Election Year	Parliament/ Assembly	Before Poll	Day of Poll	After Poll	Total
1985	Assembly	11	49	02	62
1990	Assembly	15	59	12	86
1995	Assembly	14	28	12	54
1996	Lok Sabha	10	29	03	42
1998	Lok Sabha	NA	34	10	44
1999	Lok Sabha	12	56	08	76
2000	Assembly	22	36	03	61
2001	Panchayat	NA	NA	NA	196
2004	Lok Sabha	NA	15/19	NA	28
2005	Assembly	NA	NA	NA	27
2009	Lok Sabha	NA	NA	NA	NA
2010	Assembly	NA	NA	NA	NA
2014	Lok Sabha	00	03	08	11

Source: Home (Special) Department, Government of Bihar.

The study also proves that the state machinery did not work efficiently or it was not capable to do so. The use of money and muscle power with cocktail of criminal background leaders has been a long tradition in Bihar. Many a leaders have pointed that casteism is found in the DNA of the politics of Bihar and thus making the caste based criminal politician a hero in their social groups. To a great extent such forces got success in influencing the electoral process and situation had so worsened that it is difficult to say that the election results are true representation of the mandate of voters.

 

Now the question is that whether the election results really show the verdict of voters? The graph of violence is increasing in the elections. Now, hardly a political party thinks about the base of a party worker in his/her area or no. No party cares for the popularity of their candidate but the fact whether he/she is dominant or no. Now the money and muscle power have obtained far more importance. One’s caste and ability to give a face to face fight in front of bomb and bullet have got more important and too much dismay all parties, national or regional, are suffering from the same disease.

 

The rise of Indira Gandhi in the politics of India began the high-command culture and end of internal democracy within parties. She mounted a generalised assault on all democratic institutions- not just Congress but the formal institutions of state- in order to create a vastly over centralised and illiberal regime, and to promote personal and dynastic rule.²³ What Indira started in Congress party, soon, that spread like an epidemic in all major and minor national and regional parties? The high command culture soon turned into Supremo culture with rise of parties which were mostly dependent upon the charisma of one leader. In big parties candidates are selected by the high command and in regional parties by the Supremo, and these nonsense, undemocratic decisions are taken after the declaration of election dates and imposed upon the electorate taken on the basis of dedicated party workers of various constituencies. Normally such decisions are taken on the basis of caste, money and muscle power of the candidate. However, Bhartiya Janta Party and Communist Parties are cadre based parties and thus, such decisions are quite less than other parties but these parties are also not free from selecting candidate on the basis of caste and criminal background. ²⁴

 

 

 

It is an open fact that Bihar is a big market of illegal arms. There are thousands of mini-gun factories in every nook and cranny of the state. Only Munger district has more than five hundred illegal arms factories. A CBI report disclosed that there were several illegal arms factories in every district of Bihar. Beside, the stolen arms of army, Russian and China made automatic rifles and pistols are easily available for criminals in Bihar. By 2000, there were ten lakh licensed guns in Bihar and at least eighty lakh illegal guns. As per the CBI report, if a raid is conducted at the barracks of the police stations of Bihar, not less than 40 to 50% of illegal arms would be found there.²⁵

 

There are at least ten thousand people in Bihar who have illegal foreign made pistols and revolvers, mostly nine mm automatic Chinese, Italian or Russian made. Normally, these weapons are used for robberies- bus robbery, train robbery, crop loot, burglary of house and shops. The same weapons are used to capture the booths and terrorise opponent during elections.

 

The fashion of casteism, use of black money, and gun culture has increased among political parties. This trend has developed basically for their greed of remain in power by hook or crook. This reflects in their attempts to maintain their power from the rural regions to the highest levels of the government. The administration and police also played an important role in this process. As soon as a local protest takes form, the police and administration plays its role in support of the reactionary forces. Now some changes have happened- earlier it was mainly the upper castes, now this is that section of backward castes which has emerged as neo-reactionary forces as a result of twenty five years rule of Lalu-Rabri and Nitish Kumar led backward regime. Another change is the replacement of guns and pistol by AK-47.²⁵

 

Often, claims are made about the free and fair elections. It is similar to the claims of maintenance of peace, law and order at any cost. TN Sheshan, the then Chief Election Commissioner of India had taken many steps for free and fair polls and had stated that if violent activities were not checked, he would cancel the election in Bihar. The commission deployed 125 companies of CPMF in general elections of 1989, 197 companies in assembly polls of 1990, and 618 companies in assembly polls of 1995. After that the election commission adopted to depute CPMF at every booth as much as possible.

We find that, the right to vote is part and parcel of social awareness in a society struggling for economic disparities and casting one’s vote is part of social conflicts. The people will come to cast their vote and there will be people to check their way, naturally, there will be tension and conflicts. This is also a symbol of power balance in the new developing society. Bihar goes through this socio-economic process in every election.

 

REFRENCES:

1.       Srikant (2005) "Bihar: Caste, Violence and Booth Loot." Vani publication, p.60-70

2.       Based Upon Various Reports of the Election Commission of India

3.       Srikant (2005) Bihar: Raj Aur Samaj. Vani Publication, Patna pp. 5-7

4.       Sen, A. Dreze, J.(Indian Economic Review Vol. 31, No. 1, January-June 1996) "Putting Growth in its Place" p-92

5.       Srikant (2005) Bihar: Caste, Violence and Booth Loot. Vani publication p-63-64

6.       "Autobiography- Assembly ka chunav aur kuchh partiyon ke karname, 1936- Dr. Rajendra Prasad" ( Bihar : Caste, Violence and Booth Loot(2005) Srikant Vani publication p-60)

7.       Srikant (2005)Bihar: Caste, Violence and Booth Loot - (Vani Publication) p-63

8.       K.Gopalan of News Age wrote in his article on 12^th Feb.1967

9.       K Gopalan, New Age 23 February 1969, Aryavrat, 10 February 1969

10.     Srikant (2005) Bihar: Jati, Hinsa booth loot. Vani Publication p-63

11.     Lok Sabha Elections 1980- Report of the Chief Election Commissioner of India, 1981

12.     Bihar Assembly Debates- Chaturanan Mishra, 1977

13.     Website: Election Watch 2005

14.     Lal- Chingari, Volume-65, Oct-Dec.1999, P-53

15.     Srikant (2003) "Mukhiyon Ki Jaan Par Aphat" Hindustan, Patna.

16.     Sahay, A.M (Dec. 19, 2005). "K J Rao is Bihar's hero no. 1, Lalu is zero no. 1". rediff.com

17.     PTI.(23 October 2010)" Naxal attack threatens poll process in Bihar "

18.     IBNLive(3 February 2010) " Bihar polls: 2nd phase ends defying Naxal boycott"

19.     The Hindu (2 November 2010). "High voter turnout in Naxal belt of Bihar."

20.     PTI (14 November 2010). "Maoist blast bridge, One killed in Bihar."

21.     One India News(6 December2010) "Bihar Assembly Polls - 2 Killed in Bomb Blast while Defusing Bomb in Gaya District"

22.     J. Balaji (20 Nov. 2010) "Most peaceful exercise ever in Bihar: Quraishi" . The Hindu, Chanai

23.     Manor, James In Caste in Indian Politics- Rajni Kothari, (Preface- Prologue: Caste and Politics in Recent Times, p.xiv) Orient BlackSwan, edi.vi.

24.     K. Ganeshan(1989) "Real India(Asli Bharat) – An Essay"– Ex- Secretary- Election commission of India.

25.     Gupta, Jai Shankar (2-8 February 1986) Article published in "Ravivar"