The five-phase assembly elections in Jharkhand kickstarts on Tuesday with 13 constituencies going to the polls, including Daltonganj, Gumla and Latehar. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won 12 out of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 general elections held earlier this year, hopes to repeat the feat and gain full majority in the state elections. But the cold wave conditions prevailing in Jharkhand could impact the voter turnout in the state.
According to Skymet Meteorology Division in India, Daltonganj recorded 9.9 degrees celcius as the minimum temperature on Monday morning. Similarly Gumla and Latehar recorded 8°C and 9°C as the minimum temperatures, respectively. These temperatures are almost 4-5 degrees below the normal average, which fulfills the criteria of cold wave conditions.
These temperature may force people to stay indoors during the early morning hours, but as the day progresses the weather is expected to become sunny. The afternoon hours is when the voter turnout is likely to be the maximum. Sunset in the state is also very early, around 5 pm, which again does not give ample time to the voters to vote. However, we still expect a decent turnout.
Other places in Jharkhand like, Bokaro recorded 8.9°C as the minimum on Monday morning, which is a whopping 7 degrees below the normal average. Dumka saw minimum temperature settle at 7.8°C, again 7 degrees below the normal. Giridih saw the minimum settle 8 degrees below the normal average of 16°C. These temperature profiles clearly explain the cold weather conditions in the state.
Jharkhand amongst most backward
Every time elections are held in Jharkhand, the people of the state come out in full force and vote in hope that the new government will pull the people out of the extreme poverty and backwardness they have been living in ever since Jharkhand’s formation as a separate state from Bihar. But that has never been the case as all successive governments have only pushed the state to the edge of the cliff.
According to some data available with Economic Times, the Below Poverty Line (BPL) population in Jharkhand is 36.5%, far more than the national average of 21.9%. Rural poverty in the state is 40.8%, again above the national average of 25.7%.
The infrastructure of the state is also in a wretched condition, with only 40% of the houses having access to electricity against the national average of 67.9%. Road length in Jharkhand is only 414.3 km against the national average of 1008.4 km per 1,000 sq Km. Access to toilets within households is horrifyingly low at 22% against the national average of 46.9%.
These appalling figures are of a state considered to be one of the richest in the country in terms of minerals. It is a state that has the potential to beat the best in the country. But what is required is political willpower, which all successive governments in the state have lagged so far.
Picture courtesy: thehindu.com
