Patna: With the assembly elections around the corner, new political parties are making a beeline in Bihar with the aim to disrupt the vote banks of prominent political parties. Mostly caste-based parties, each of them has specific agendas and intends to dent a particular vote bank.
However, their presence hardly makes an impact on the voting pattern of the Bihar election. Among the new political parties many are in the fray to open their account for the first time. As the date of elections has been announced, activities of smaller political parties have increased by many folds in Bihar.
Political observers opined that the reason behind the advent of the new parties during the election is to dent the vote bank and also to make their presence felt among the established political parties.
Many new parties are trying their luck in the assembly election. These political parties include Azad Samaj Party (ASP), Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), Bahujan Mukti Party (BMP), Janata Dal (Rashtravadi) party, Jantantrik Vikas Party, Janata Dal (Nationalist) party, Rashtriya Adhikar Party, Samyukta Kisan Vikas Party and Jago Hindustan Party.
“Despite the possibility of losing their deposits, most of the leaders forming the new parties have no previous political associations. It's like opening a shop during the election and shutting it down afterwards. However, there are also others who want to play long innings in politics and they continue their political work even after the election,” said a political observer.
Experts also believe that such political parties help in reducing vote shares of prominent parties and the voters do not take them seriously. It is very tough for an independent candidate to win an election under the banner of a new political party. Sometimes, personality matters but in the long run, they have to prove themselves. Some have come up with bizarre promises and by highlighting issues of development. One such example is the Plurals Party of Pushpam Priya Chaudhary who has made a grand entry through the issue of development. She is also a self-declared Chief Minister candidate.
“In many cases, established political parties offer handsome amounts to the potential rivals to withdraw the candidature. But that happens only if the party feels that the rival is popular enough. However, data suggests that even the vote share of such political parties are less than 2 per cent. Candidates who contest under new banners seldom win,” said a political expert.
There are few political parties who remain active during non-election time as well.
The former member of parliament Pappu Yadav who fielded more than 150 candidates in the last assembly election could not even win a single seat even though his party remains active aa round the year. It proves that voters are smart enough to differentiate between new and old political parties and leaders.
Similarly, Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP) led by Mukesh Sahni still needs to leave his mark in Bihar politics even though he has established himself in a very short span of time as a leader of Nishad community. VIP contested in three seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election but did not win a single seat.
As per the data available with the state election commission, there are 156 registered political parties in Bihar and four recognised parties which includes JDU, RJD, RLSP and LJP -- all of them having their headquarters in Patna.
Interestingly, contesting the election every time and losing repeatedly does not demoralise the candidates. There are many such candidates who contest every election for the sake of contesting. It is also a fact that new political parties do not have any takers in Bihar. Sometimes such parties become a tool of extracting money from the obsessive candidates who want to contest elections at any cost.
