BJP wants paramilitary and CCTV at all booths in Siwan

Claiming that a fear psychosis prevailed in Siwan constituency where the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) had fielded a jailed don's wife as its candidate, the state unit of BJP today petitioned the Election Commission (EC) to provide paramilitary forces and CCTV cameras at all 1,461 polling stations.

Submitting a petition to the Bihar Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ajay V Nayak today, a BJP delegation led by MLCs Sanjay Mayukh, Suraj Nandan Kushwaha, Nawal Kishore Yadav and others claimed that the voters of Siwan were terror-stricken because RJD candidate Heena Shahab, who is the wife of jailed don Mohammad Shahabuddin, is contesting from the Siwan seat. "Earlier on EC directive, Shahabuddin was shifted from Siwan jail to Gaya Jail, but his lawyer obtained a court order to bring him back. This has spread terror among the voters. We have requested the EC to deploy paramilitary forces and install CCTV cameras at each booth to counter any threat to peaceful voting," said Mayukh.

The BJP delegation also requested the EC to extend direction to the security forces to conduct flag marches and intensive checking in the entire Siwan constituency to neutralise any fear among the voters and to facilitate smooth and peaceful polling. Shahabuddin, currently serving life sentence for kidnapping and murder of a CPI (ML) worker, has been four times MP from Siwan between 1996 and 2004. He is facing over two dozen more cases related to extortion, kidnapping, murder and other serious charges.

Siwan is going to polls on May 12 and 15.6 lakh voters will get a chance to decide the fate of 13 candidates in fray. BJP has fielded Om Prakash Yadav, JD (U) has given ticket to Manoj Kumar Singh, while Amar Nath Yadav is the CPI (ML) candidate.