The political and media powerhouses have, for the past thirty days, tried to persuade the country that the Bankipur assembly by-election is the final “referendum” determining Bihar’s political fate. The race, with a high-profile strategist of boards Prashant Kishor taking on the well-organized BJP and RJD machine, got the label of being a super political bomb.
But an in-depth citizen-led analysis of the day of the election actually reveals that there is a huge difference in what the TV studios are showing and the local situation. By official figures, voter turnout during the first few hours of polling was only 4.61% at 9 AM which is really low.
Doubtless the early voting has a slower start, Yet the utter sluggishness that the state’s highest paying and most intellectually equipped urban citizenry display is more like a cold psychological indicator of the mood in the air. They are really tired of the politics.
The low enthusiasm in the Bankipur assembly by-election is a direct indictment of the current political discourse. The electorate recognizes that this high-profile clash offers no real solutions to their grinding, everyday realities.
- Will the victory of a corporate political strategist solve the state’s terrifying ₹4 Lakh Crore debt crisis?
- Will the triumph of a traditional party worker stop the massive youth exodus driven by paper leaks and systemic unemployment?
No wonder the answer is no. The “Mainstream State” makes use of these VIP contests very carefully to distract the middle-class taxpayer from the totally broken state of administrative delivery. Politically, when the only options available are a boardroom consultant dependent on elite PR or an incumbent party party dependent on deeply rooted caste calculations, merit-driven youth as well as burdened taxpayers are politically left behind.
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The sparse lines at the Bankipur polling stations today are not a sign of laziness; they are a sophisticated, silent protest. It is the ultimate proof that the electorate can no longer be mobilized by empty political spectacles while their fundamental institutional and economic foundations remain completely broken.
