‘Earlier, voters didn’t have to prove they were citizens’

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, whose party isa key constituent of the Opposition INDIA bloc in Bihar, describes the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the poll-bound state as “votebandi”.

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Edited excerpts of his interview to Saubhadra Chatterji:

What are the key issues for INDIA bloc in Bihar poll?

People feel completely let down and betrayed by the Nitish Kumar's government. Kumar's major plank was development but now you find Bihar completely mired in poverty, unemployment and people are reeling under huge debt burden. Then another major key assurance was good governance and law and order. Today, it's like a reign of complete crime. People are looking for a change.

There are a lot of talks that women vote for Nitish Kumar. But that was a period when women indeed preferred him. But now, when a midday meal worker gets only 21,650 for 10 months in a year, that support base has eroded.