Even as Naxals wreaked havoc during the first phase of polls in Jharkhand on Thursday,three of their ideological brethren contested the elections from jail. First is Veer Bhagat,zonal commander of the CPI(Maoist). As an accused in two dozen cases of murder,loot and ransom,he had contested the Chatra Lok Sabha seat from prison as an independent candidate only to lose it in 2004.This time,he was the BSPs candidate. Then there is Ranjan Yadav alias Dinkar. An accused in over a dozen cases of murder,dacoity,loot and kidnapping,this CPI(ML) candidate also contested for the Chatra seat from the confines of Latehar jail. Armed with a JMM ticket for the Palamau seat,Kameshwar Baitha is facing three dozen cases of murder,dacoity,loot and kidnapping and is currently lodged in Bihars Bhabua jail. Although no psephologist has bet on either of them winning,if one does pull a victory,he will be the first Maoist in the country to occupy a Lok Sabha seat. Kodas code case moves forward MADHU Koda may be innocent,but an FIR filed by Jharkhand Vikas Morcha candidate Mangal Singh Bobonga has alleged that the former chief minister had not only violated the election code of conduct,but also distributed cash among voters. Bobonga filed his complaint in Khuntpani police station in Singhbhum where Koda is hoping to wrest the seat from the Congresss Bagun Sumbrai. West Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner Sunil Kumar has directed the police to take cognisance of Bobongas complaint. We decided to move against Koda only after getting the matter inquired into by a Magistrate, said Kumar. Winter,summer,election vacations As is always the case during election time,the state administration has launched a concerted campaign to seize private buses for transporting security men and poll staff to man the booths in far-flung areas. This time,even school buses were not spared. Result: all schools were shut down,and will to reopen only on April 26,three days after the second phase of polls end on April 23. Although no school had lodged any complaint,Sumanto Bannerjee,president of the Association of Parents of School Students was preparing to file a PIL. This has prevented thousands of students from attending schools, he said. Partymen in jail,JMM candidate in tricky situation The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha,led by the ailing Shibu Soren,is in trouble again,with nine partymen including MLA from Dumri Jagarnath Mahato being sent to jail after the Giridih district court denied them bail in an old case. Their stint is jail is likely to adversely impact the prospect of JMMs sitting MP from Giridih Teklal Mahato,who is struggling to retain his seat in a contest against the BJPs Ravindra Pandey. According to the FIR filed by state Electricity Board engineer Sunil Kumar on July 9,2005,these JMM supporters led by Mahato had resorted to violence in his office,bashed him up,abused him and disrupted official work. The next day,the police slapped half a dozen charges on them,but the accused chose to abscond. When they finally appeared before the court on April 6,the court refused to grant them bail and sent them to judicial custody.
