Stage set for polling in 4 states today
Shoot-at-site orders in Bihar

NEW DELHI, Nov 24 (PTI) — In what is seen by many as a referendum on the eight-month-old BJP-led rule at the Centre and a test of popularity of the Congress under the leadership of Mrs Sonia Gandhi, eight crore voters are scheduled to exercise their franchise in tomorrow’s Assembly poll in Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Mizoram amid tight security arrangements.

Along with the poll in the four states, byelections will be held to the Broach Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat and 12 assembly seats in six states.

Polling will be held for 320 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 69 in Delhi, 197 in Rajasthan and 40 in Mizoram. Elections have been postponed in the Mundawa, Kumbhalgarh and Beem constituencies in Rajasthan and the Nangloi constituency in Delhi following the death of candidates.

The state governments have taken the necessary security measures to conduct a free and fair poll and sealed the borders to prevent the entry of anti-social elements from outside the states.

Nearly 5,000 candidates whose fate will be decided include Chief Ministers Shushma Swaraj (Delhi), Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (Rajasthan), Digvijay Singh (Madhya Pradesh) and Lalthanhawla (Mizoram) and five former chief ministers.

The assembly byelections will also take place for Baruipur, Nandanpur and Mayuraswar in West Bengal, Agra East in Uttar Pradesh, Adampur in Punjab, Baijnath in Himachal Pradesh, Udharbund and Bhahanipur in Assam and Adapur, Purnea, Koderma and Sheohar in Bihar.

In Bihar, amid shoot-at-sight orders against booth grabbers, the stage is set for the holding of elections to four Bihar assembly constituencies of Adapur, Purnea, Koderma and Sheohar tomorrow, officials said.

An estimated 7.72 lakh voters would decide the fate of 41 candidates in the fray.

State Chief Electoral Officer AK Basu said 934 of the 1,049 polling stations had been declared sensitive and the state Home Department instructed to deploy armed police personnel at all booths.

"Orders had been issued to shoot-at-sight those trying to capture booths," state Home Secretary R.K. Singh said.

One company of the CRPF and one company of the Rapid Action Force had already been sent to Purnea and Sheohar respectively to assist the Bihar Military Police (BMP) and district armed police (DAP) in ensuring a free and fair poll, he added.  

Mr Singh said some companies of the Central Para-Military Forces (CPMF) had been kept as standby and would be moved into the constituencies if required.

Special security measures have been taken in the dacoit and Naxalite-infected areas in Madhya Pradesh where security forces would also use helicopters to oversee polling in the Chambal region, state Additional-Director-General of Police (Intelligence) AN Singh said.

In addition to state forces, 140 companies of the paramilitary forces from the Centre, Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab have been positioned in the sensitive areas in Rajasthan.

In the Capital, apart from 40,736 Delhi police personnel, 8,000 Home Guards and 30 companies of paramilitary forces, including the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Rapid Action Force (RAF), will be deployed.

As many as 118 sensitive polling booths will have additional deployment, police sources said.

Tomorrow’s assembly elections in Delhi will be an acid test not only for the ruling BJP but also for the Congress which is making a strong bid to capture power by using the anti-incumbency phenomenon and the price spiral to its favour.

Facing a disillusioned and indifferent electorate, both the traditional rival parties find it an uphill task to press their organisational machineries for ensuring that their supporters go to booths to cast votes.

The anti-incumbency factor coupled with people’s anger over the "dismal" performance of the BJP government is likely to play a crucial role in deciding the outcome.

Although BJP leaders are making a desperate bid to present a rosy picture of the saffron party’s five-year rule in the city and promise to make Delhi the "best-administered state in the country", it may not be a smooth sailing for them.

The damage done by the unimpressive performance of the Delhi Government and the abrupt ouster of Mr Sahib Singh Verma, considered to be a mass leader in the Jat-dominated Outer Delhi, is likely to cause major reverses for the BJP.

However, BJP stalwarts, including Chief Minister Sushma Swaraj, are confident of a victory, saying the Congress is no match to the BJP’s "well-entrenched organisational machinery" giving a considerable advantage to the party to retain power.