Election Commission Orders Officer Transfers Following Political Murder in Bihar's Mokama Constituency

The Election Commission has issued transfer orders for several administration and police officials in Bihar following the murder of a man allegedly affiliated with Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party.

Among those transferred are Sub Divisional Officer Chandan Kumar, Sub-Divisional Police Officers Rakesh Kumar and Abhishek Singh, and Patna SP Rural Vikram Sihag. Additionally, SDPO Abhishek Singh has been suspended from his duties.

The Commission has requested a comprehensive report on the incident from the Chief Election Officer, to be submitted by Sunday noon.

The victim, Dularchand Yadav, was killed during campaign-related violence in Bihar's Mokama on Thursday when clashes erupted between opposing groups.

Mokama constituency, scheduled to vote in the first phase on November 6, is notorious for its powerful local strongmen (Bahubali). The most prominent among these figures is Anant Kumar Singh, who is currently running as a candidate for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United (JD(U)), along with his brother Dilip Singh.

His opponent is Veena Devi, wife of his long-standing rival Surajbhan Singh, who is contesting on a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) ticket.

The conflict between these two leaders, both known for their criminal backgrounds, originated during the 2000 assembly election and has brought significant attention to the electoral contest in this constituency.

The death of Dularchand Yadav, who had a criminal record with multiple police cases against him, is anticipated to influence this year's election outcome.

However, election strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor has denied that the deceased was associated with his party.

When questioned about why such an individual would be campaigning for his party, Prashant Kishor clarified in an exclusive interview with NDTV: "Dular Chand Yadav was neither a member of Jan Suraaj nor involved with the party in any capacity."

He further added, "Our candidate there is Piyush and we are not responsible for anyone campaigning for him. Dularchand Yadav's enmity was with Anant Kumar Singh."