Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday said elections in his state will not be held ahead of schedule, and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of holding simultaneous polls was not “feasible”, NDTV reported.
Kumar’s statement ended speculation of early elections in Bihar. At an internal conference of his party in Patna, Kumar said assembly polls in the state will take place as scheduled in October-November 2020.
An ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Kumar said he was not against the idea of holding simultaneous elections, but that it will not be feasible for states such as Gujarat and Karnataka. “Do you think we should hold another election in Gujarat where the poll has just taken place, or Karnataka where elections are due in next few months?” Kumar said.
While he said his party, the Janata Dal (United), supports the prime minister’s idea, in Bihar, there will be no early polls as the “people of Bihar have given us a mandate for five years and there should be no interference in it”, The Times of India reported.
Kumar sought to clear the air about early elections in the state after JD (U) national secretary general KC Tyagi said earlier this month that the party was ready for assembly elections as early as December 2018.
The Opposition has been against the idea, saying simultaneous elections are against federal principles.
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