Battle for Bihar: FIR against Lalu and Rabri

Patna: RJD leader Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabir Devi are in trouble for violating the model code of conduct after an FIR was lodged against the duo on Monday morning.
Lalu and Rabri walked inside a polling booth in Digha Assembly constituency
to cast votes in the Bihar Assembly polls with their security, which is a violation of the model code of conduct. The Election Commission has ordered an enquiry.
The FIRs for violating the model code of conduct were registered by Digha Block Development Officer Ashok Kumar at the Patna Airport police station against Lalu and Rabri. The Returning Officer for the Digha Assembly constituency Maqsood Alam said that according to the rules, a VIP was not allowed to take bodyguards or commandos within a radius of 100 metre of a booth.


Meanwhile, in the fourth phase of Assembly elections in Bihar on Monday 42 constituencies including Bihar's capital Patna is going to the polls.
About 10.4 million voters are eligible to decide the electoral fate of 568 candidates. Polling will take place in 10,716 centres.
The eight districts going to the polls are Begusarai, Lakhisarai, Bhagalpur, Khagaria, Munger, Banka, Jamui and Patna.
Polling, which began at 7 AM, is scheduled to go on till 5 PM, except in some Maoist-affected constituencies where it will end at 3 PM.
The fourth phase is crucial as the electoral fate of 575 candidates is in the fray with almost one crore voters. There are 15 Maoist-affected zones among the 42 constituencies that go to the polls. This includes Lakhisarai where four policemen were abducted by Maoists in early September.
Apart from 42 assembly constituencies, Banka Lok Sabha seat is also going to polls. This seat fell vacant after the demise of rebel JDU leader Digvijay Singh. His wife Putul Devi is contesting as an independent candidate, supported by the NDA.
She is in direct fray with RJD's Jai Prakash Yadav, who happened to be a former Union minister.
Banka has been a bastion of Digvijay Singh for long and after his untimely demise, Putul Devi has the sympathy wave in her favour.
The irony and contradiction of this seat is that Digvijay Singh was fighting for ouster of Nitish Kumar, who had denied him a ticket. He was also founder of the Kishan Mahapanchayat - a political vehicle aimed at countering the chief minister upper caste vote. Post death - Digvijay Singh and NDA are partners again.
And money power continues to be on full display in these elections. Candidates are using helicopters for campaigning like never before to reach out to voters in remote places. But the question remains, will it help in bring the votes.