From 19 to 92, Kumhrar voters seek garbage-free roads

Patna, Nov 6 (PTI) Heaps of garbage lay strewn in front of a polling station in the Kumhrar Assembly constituency here as voters, from a 19-year-old first-timer to a 92-year-old veteran doctor, queued up to cast their ballots on Thursday.

Several voters, whether young or old, in Patrakar Nagar area in the state capital Patna, spoke of the dire condition of roads and the "very poor level of sanitation" in the streets.

As they waited for their turn to cast their ballot, a hope burned in their hearts that the next MLA would be sensitive to the rundown infrastructure.

Kumhrar, named after the ruins of the ancient city of Pataliputra, has been known to be a BJP bastion since the 1990s, and the electorate predominantly comprises members of the Kayastha community.

While the ruling NDA has replaced the incumbent MLA Arun Kumar Sinha with Sanjay Kumar Gupta, the Opposition bloc has fielded Indradeep Chandravanshi of the Congress.

Debutant Jan Suraaj Party has named mathematician K C Sinha as its candidate.

All three parties have exuded confidence in pulling a victory from this crucial seat.

Voting began for 121 seats of the 243-member Bihar Assembly in the first phase of the elections on Thursday morning, amid tight security.

Among early voters was 92-year-old Dr Gangadhar Jha, who came to the booth holding a walking stick in his right hand and his son by his side.

Born in 1933, four years before the historic 1937 provincial elections of Bihar, Dr Jha, who served in the pathology department of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), has witnessed every election in post-Independence India.

Exercising his franchise once again, he urged the youth to come out and vote. Meanwhile, 19-year-old Shruti Mishra cast her vote for the first time.

A student of the Patna Women's College, she pointed towards the heaps of garbage in the streets in her constituency, and hankered for an MLA who works for development, education, affordable healthcare, and cleanliness.

"I want the next MLA to be a sensitive person too, who can raise women-specific issues, and personally visit households, if need be, to ensure there is no domestic violence," she told PTI.

Sinha, the 71-year-old Jan Suraaj candidate, was also among the early voters.

A mathematician and former academic, Sinha claimed that his party had a "roadmap" for the constituency, which includes setting up educational and coaching institutions and lodges.

"Look at this garbage dumped in front of the polling station, and the condition of the roads. People want change, and we will give them an alternative," he told PTI.

Arun Kumar Pathak, 71, a retired chief ticket supervisor, who lives in Patrakar Nagar, scowled at the sight of the heap of trash stewing near his house.

"I have voted as per my conscience. But, who will clean our streets," he asked.

Voter turnout was rather sluggish at many of the booths in the morning, with only 10-12 per cent of voters having exercised their franchise till 11 am.

At a model polling station at PM SHRI Kendriya Vidyalaya 1 in Kankarbagh area, a doctor couple -- Shakil Kumar and Anupam -- were among the first voters.

"No government should stay for a long time. People should keep rotating them, and this time there is a need for change, as bureaucratic inertia has also set in," said Kumar.

His wife, Anupam, emphasised that many things improved in the last 20 years and new infrastructure was built, but "as a woman, I still feel safety is an issue," and so is "social equity," she said.

"Our voting or our policies should not be caste-driven, and announcing a welfare scheme of Rs 10,000 just days before elections to woo women voters was just wrong," she said.

In the first phase, a total of 3.75 crore voters will decide the electoral fate of 1,314 candidates, including top leaders such as the Opposition bloc's chief ministerial face, Tejashwi Yadav, and the incumbent deputy chief minister, Samrat Choudhary, of the BJP. PTI KND ARB VN VN