Patna: An Opposition party candidate and his supporter were shot dead while another two candidates escaped narrowly in attacks by gangsters as the ongoing state elections in Bihar turn slowly violent.
Shree Narayan Singh, a candidate from Janata Dal Rashtrawadi, was campaigning in the Sheohar district late Saturday evening when unidentified gunmen masquerading as his supporters resorted to indiscriminate fire, injuring the candidate and two of his supporters.
He was immediately rushed to the local hospital where he was declared dead. One of his two supporters also succumbed to the injuries later. Meanwhile, his angry supporters caught hold of one of the assailants and he was lynched.
“It is a clear case of gang-war as the candidate had more than 30 criminal cases registered against him in various police stations,” local Sheohar district superintendent of police Santosh Kumar told the media on Sunday adding his killing was purely a fallout of rivalry between crime lords operation in the areas.
Police said the killers were actually travelling in a car which was part of the candidate’s convoy and suddenly opened fire. “We are investigating the case,” another police official Munna Kumar said.
Another such incident was reported from Gaya district when two candidates had a narrow escape when the gangsters opened fire on them. The incident took place in the Maoist-hit Konch block of Gaya district on Saturday evening.
Opened fire
Reports said Jan Adhikar Party candidate Ajay Yadav and Forward Block (Krantikari) Party candidate Ranchandra Azad were returning home after campaigning in the evening when the gangsters opened fires on their campaign vehicles. They saved their lives by somehow fleeing from the scene.
Poll temperature has suddenly heated up in Bihar with just two days left for the first phase of elections in the state. The three-phase polling will start on October 28 and the counting of votes will be done on November 10.
The poll scene in the state has turned bitter with the leaders in-charge of the campaigns going personal and making allegations against each other instead of keeping the campaign focussed on real issues.
The verbal spats have instead gone bitter, especially between NDA’s chief ministerial candidate Nitish Kumar and Grand Alliance CM face Tejashwi Yadav.
While Nitish has been questing the experience of Tejashwi, his announcement to give one million jobs to the youths and also passed serious remarks against his parents who ruled the state for 15 years, the latter has described NDA’s CM candidate as “tired, having no vision and leading a government where as many as 60 scams too place”. Nitish has been on the saddle for the past 15 years since 2005 and battles hard to retain power.
