ABSTRACT
Bihar and Maharashtra can be considered states at the opposite ends of the Indian political development spectrum. Bihar is well-known as a case study in backwardness, corruption, feudal domination and, more recently, rural violence. On election eve, Bihar's chief ministership had passed into the hands of one of the state's great caste dynasties, in the person of Satyendra Narayan Sinha, whose father had struggled for Congress control in Bihar. In Maharashtra, the Congress was uncertain and restive on election eve. A glance at the Congress' performance over time in Maharashtra indicates considerably more stability than in Bihar. Sugar politics and voting are connected in Maharashtra, a fact that was demonstrated not only in the Lok Sabha poll in November, but also again in the Vidhan Sabha election in February, when the sugar belt formed the base of Sharad Pawar's much diminished majority in the state assembly.
