Observers for Bihar polls skew towards BJP-ruled states, shows EC data

On October 28, the Congress party raised concern about the deployment of Indian Administrative Service officials from Gujarat as observers in the upcoming Bihar elections.

“Be warned people of Bihar!” it tweeted. “Vote chors have sent their men to you” – a reference from the party’s campaign accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of “vote chori” or stealing elections through malpractices.

A total of 243 IAS officers from across India have been sent to Bihar to monitor elections as general observers – one for each assembly constituency. Fourteen of them are from Gujarat.

The number may appear small but it is disproportionate to the state’s share of India’s total IAS officers currently in service. Put simply, Gujarat has 255 IAS officers but it has sent more observers to Bihar than Opposition-ruled West Bengal and Karnataka, which have a higher number of IAS officers.

Along with Gujarat, other BJP-ruled states and territories have contributed 68% of the general observers, despite comprising only 57% of the country's total IAS officers, according to a Scroll analysis based on government and Election Commission data.

Similarly, 68% of assembly constituencies in Bihar have police observers from states and territories under BJP’s control, despite such officials making up only 59% of the total Indian Police Service officials in the country.

Strikingly, this...

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