Patna: Political tensions in Bihar are escalating as the state prepares for assembly elections, with leaders trading allegations over age discrepancies and past criminal cases.
Prashant Kishor, the strategist behind the Jan Suraj Party, which is contesting the Bihar polls for the first time, has intensified scrutiny of senior politicians. On Monday, Kishor publicly questioned the age of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and linked him to a 1995 murder case.
Speaking at a press conference, Kishor accused Chaudhary of involvement in the killings of six people from the Kushwaha caste in Tarapur. He urged the Nitish Kumar government to dismiss and arrest Choudhary, warning that he would approach the state governor if no action were taken. Kishor highlighted discrepancies in Choudhary’s documents, citing a Bihar School Examination Board admit card that lists his date of birth as May 1,1981, suggesting he would have been 14 at the time of the murders and thus a minor. He contrasted this with Choudhary’s 2020 election affidavit, which states his age as 51, arguing that if accurate, he would have been an adult at the time, making him liable for prosecution.
The controversy has now drawn a response from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Danish Iqbal, the state BJP media in-charge, alleged that Jan Suraj Party president Uday “Pappu” Singh submitted inconsistent ages to the Election Commission. According to Iqbal, Singh declared his age as 44 during the 2004 Lok Sabha elections and as 57 in the 2009 elections.
The escalating exchange underlines the intense political manoeuvring ahead of the Bihar assembly elections, as parties scrutinise each other’s records while attempting to consolidate support among voters.
