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12/09/2005
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Churning out Law books to reduce every chance of poll mal-practices in Bihar, the Election Commission of India faces the daunting task of achieving its goal given the relatively huge presence of IPS/IAS officers- either indicted by the EC itself in the past or having "poor" track record- on the election scene. Of them, worse is the case of the IPS officers among whom over 30 percent is said to have 'poor' track record. It's on these officials that the responsibility to conduct a "free & fair" election rests. As say the official sources, the total quota of IPS and IAS officers in the state is 90 (ninety) and 250 (two hundred fifty) respectively. Again, of the total 90 IPS officers, nearly 35 of them are alleged to have 'tainted' records which makes the EC's task a bit more difficult, sources confirm. Among them, Jaglal Chaudhary, Raghuvansh Prasad Yadav, Shohaib Akhtar, Baldeo Prasad, Satyendra Singh, Marai Ram, KM Lal, DN Gupta, Ganesh Yadav, AK Ambedkar, Amarendra Kumar Singh and JPN Singh are such who were removed from election duty from the concerning districts where they were posted as SP. They were kept out of the poll duty on the instructions of the EC in the last Assembly polls. Besides, another IPS officer Parasnath was removed as SP, Bagaha on the instructions of the Patna high court for his failure to maintain law and order. Similarly, another IPS officer, BS Jayant who is presently posted as Tirhut Range IG (also in the charge of IG, Saran range) has been charge-sheeted in the multi-crore uniform purchase scandal. The other ones namely NH Khan (SSP, Patna) and Rampravesh Singh (DIG, Patna Central Range) are said to have controversial image while KK Singh now posted as Vaishali SP is accused of having procured the job on the basis of fake caste certificates. Apart from them, the track record of many other IPS officers like Meghnath Ram, Sanjay Singh, Kapileshwar Manjhi, Anil Kishore Yadav, H N Deva and O N Bhaskar too has not been found to be good and have under the scrutiny of the masses. What is significant here is that most of those officials getting 'prized' posting during the Rabri regime was left untouched even during the four major administrative shake-up during the President's rule. Even more startling was the fact that some of the EC-indicted officials were hurriedly posted in some districts just a few days before poll dates were announced, ignoring the bitter truth that they were sure to be removed under the EC's directive. Expectedly, the EC, so far, has removed the district magistrates of Jehanabad, Nalanda, Khagaria, Sheohar, Gaya and Begusarai while it has issued order for the shifting of as many as 17 IPS officers holding key positions in key districts like Patna, Muzaffarpur, Jamui, Aurangabad, Banka, Siwan and Saran. What then was 'motive' of the state administration to post those 'tainted' officers or allow them to continue on their posts thus remains everyone's guess. Of them, a very classic case is that of Sanjay Singh who, hardly a fortnight ago, was shifted as Gaya SP to replace the high profile Ratn Sanjay in Md Shahabuddin's "fiefdom" called Siwan. In the midst of controversies for long, Sanjay Singh tried his best to follow his immediate predecessor both in 'style and action' as was evident from his "seriousness" to send two police teams to Delhi and then his 'appeal' for sounding a nation-wide red alert to arrest the absconding Shahabuddin. However, his action did not work and he had to be shifted in the end. It was a crude joke on the entire state machinery engaged in maintaining law and order when Shahab kept on moving freely addressing public meetings and that too with police security guards. What's peculiar is that the state chief secretary GS Kang, who on July 29 proceeded on leave to protest the recent transfer of 17 'honest and upright' officers which made national headlines, did not even object to these posting and remained silent. This is why all the files are now being routed through the chief secretary and the advisor to the governor Arun Pathak is no more in his way to interfere in that matter. Kang remained silent once again when the governor hurriedly nominated new members of the Bihar Public Service Commission, the Backward Class Commission, the Minority Commission and the 15-point Programme Implementation Committee the day when the poll dates were announced and model code of conduct was in force. Although the EC has begun 'clearing the mess' as the people describe the former effort to shift 'tainted' officers holding key posts at district-level, it remains to be seen how far the EC succeeds in its efforts. What makes the EC's task further difficult is that a whopping 41 good and upright IPS officers of Bihar cadre who are known for their "work culture" are currently on central deputation. It is said they all opted out of the state owing to alleged excessive political interference in day-to-day work as also for better exposure that Laluland could not have ensured. What is more, 35 of the total sanctioned posts of IPS officers are said to be lying vacant in the state. Owing to acute shortage of such officers, the charge of many districts has now come in the hands of a few promotee cops. Just before going out of office, Rabri Devi government had promoted some 22 Bihar Police Service officers to the rank of the IPS. Nothing better looks the case of the IAS fraternity, a good number of who has been indicted by the EC for poll-related irregularities in the past. They include-Rajesh Gupta, Deepak Prasad, Hukumdeo Singh Meena, N Vijayalaxami, Brajesh Malhotra, Santosh Kumar Mal and Rashid Ahmad Khan. Of them, Khan, now posted as Buxur DM, was earlier removed by the EC as the Banka DM for his bizarre move to receive the then CM, Rabri Devi in utter violation of the model code. . Among all IAS officers, a very classic case is that of Deepak Prasad who is currently posted as the Additional Chief Electoral Officer. Prasad, who along with three others IAS colleagues were found guilty of large-scale poll irregularities in preparing the voters' list for the Teachers Constituency, was hurriedly removed as Patna DM on the EC's order just before the 2004 LS polls only to be posted as the ACEO later. Since then he is continuing on his post, giving "valuable" tips to the EC team on checking the poll mal-practices. What is further startling is that 511 cops of the total police workforce available in the state are having criminal records which even the state government has admitted in the High Court during the hearing of a case on 25 July. Some of them are even enjoying prized posting after having got promotion. As per the information provided to the court by the government, of the total 511 policemen facing criminal charges, charge-sheets have been filed against 177 accused cops while in the case of the remaining 334 cops, the inquiry is till pending. The "politicisation" of the state bureaucracy is another problem which plagues the state. A former DGP straightway blamed the15 year-long RJD regime for the sorry state of affairs. "Earlier, the bureaucrats were forced to maintain impartiality in thoughts and actions following frequent change of governments (many of them could not even complete its terms in the office) in the state. The RJD rule, however, lasted for as many as 15 long years during which those who remained at their Master's beck and call got prized posting while those who did not were just shunted out", said the ex-DGP. The circumstantial compulsions, he added, forced the bureaucrats to change his "posture" and dance to the tunes of the powers-that-be to have choice posting and better career ahead! So where is the scope for 'fair elections'? Options are very few, aren't they?
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Manoj Chaurasia (The author is The Statesman's Patna-based Special Representative)
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