NEW DELHI: The scene for the February 27 assembly elections remained confused Friday with major opposition parties who have entered into an electoral understanding in many states opposing each other.
The lack of clarity in the poll picture was particularly evident in Bihar where the Janata Dal, the Bharatiya Janata party and the two communist parties have fielded over 668 candidates for 324 seats following the failure of their talks on seat adjustments.
To complicate the matters further, all the tribal Jharkand Parties except the two factions of Jharkand Mukti Morcha are going it alone for over 80 seats in tribal south Bihar.
While Janta Dal is staking claim to 273 seats in the state, the BJP has fielded 235 candidates, the CPI 113 and CPIM. In Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat where the BJP and the Janata Dal have reached an agreement on most of the seats, but they have violated their understanding in several constituencies by putting up candidates in seats which do not fall in their share under the accord.
Himachal Pradesh is the only state, where the two parties have a complete agreement ensuring a straight contest against the Congress (I).
In Maharashtra, Orissa, Arunanchal and Pondicherry the two parties have no accord. Maharashtra faces a triangular contest involving the Congress (I), the BJP-Shiv Sena combine and the Janata Dal. In the other two states and the union territory, they are going it alone.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 23, 1990
