Nitish says he backs simultaneous polls, but Bihar elections to be held on schedule

PATNA: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Sunday said though his party principally supports the idea of holding simultaneous elections of Lok Sabha and state assemblies, but "there should be no confusion" over the timing of next assembly polls in Bihar.
"People of Bihar have given us mandate for five years and there should be no interference in it. Assembly election in Bihar will be held on the fixed time (in 2020) on completion of five-year term of the current assembly," Nitish said while trying to clear a misconception that was created after a recent statement of the JD(U) national secretary general K C Tyagi.

Nitish was addressing a meeting of JD(U)'s state executive body at the CM residence here. Besides the state executive members, the party's district presidents and chief of all cells were present at the crucial meeting.

Tyagi, while talking a newspaper in New Delhi on January 8, had said that the JD(U) was prepared to go for assembly elections in Bihar as early as in December this year, almost two years ahead of schedule, if simultaneous polls are held for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. Tyagi had also said that his party favoured the idea of simultaneous elections, floated by the PM.

When asked by the newspaper if the JD (U) was ready for early polls, Tyagi had said that assembly elections are due in three states namely Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh in November-December. He had also said Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana would complete their term in 2019 along with the Lok Sabha. "All these elections can be held in December 2018," he had said, adding, "We are willing to join them and go to the polls half-way through our current assembly term."

Nitish, without taking name of any senior member of the party, asked the state and district level functionaries not to remain in dilemma over the timing of state assembly polls.

"It is true that we have principally supported the idea of holding simultaneous polls of Lok Sabha and state assemblies, but for this there should be a consensus on national level and the Centre will have to make necessary Constitutional provisions to facilitate simultaneous elections," he said.

Exhorting workers to work for service of common people, Nitish said since he had chosen the path of Gandhi Ji, he was not worried of stone pelting on his convoy. He was apparently referring to the recent incident of attack on the CM's convoy at Nandan village in Buxar district.