Round The States

New Delhi, 11 April 2014

Record 3rd Phase Polling

THREE CHEERS TO EC OR VOTER?

By Insaf

Record polling in 91 constituencies across 14 States in the third phase of the big electoral battle is indeed heartening. But it raises an interesting question; who should the three cheers go to-- the voter or the Election Commission? Both one would guess. Or should one merely say it is the anti-Congress wave sweeping across the nation, as per the plethora of opinion polls? There is no denying that the EC has gone all out to educate the electorate to exercise its vote. It has had brand ambassadors reaching out to one and all. At the same time, it has taken special care to lure the new young voter not to miss out being part of the biggest elections in the world. Indeed, it hasn’t been let down. Serpentine queues outside polling booths, in this hot weather, have revealed that the voter too has been enthused and not become victim of the chalta hai attitude.

Delhi, Western UP, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar and Odisha are among the States which have shown a ‘thumbs up’ and improved upon their previous record of 2009. Even the naxal-affected States of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have joined in enthusiastically and said a boo to the Maoists threat and boycott calls. While, there would be different answers to whom the credit shall go, the BJP for one would be upbeat. Other than perhaps the AAP. The large turnout is known to usher in change. It’s an anti-incumbency vote and the Congress has much reason to worry. However, while nothing is certain, the third phase is a trendsetter. It would be a record-breaking election this time. More kudos are to follow. But it’s much too long a wait for both the candidates and the voters to either be jubilant or remorse. All eyes shall till then be on the next phase of polling.       

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Manipur Plays Spoilsport

Manipur may well play spoilsport for Election Commission’s record of conducting a free and fair poll. Not just reports in the media but political parties have complained that 57 booths in Chandel, Senapati and Ukhrul districts were taken over by the NSCN(IM) members and Kuki militants. In fact, a national daily has given firsthand reportage of how booth-capturing was done—while there were no voters in a booth in Senakeithei, only some young smartly dressed youth at the doors, the presiding officer said 800 votes had been cast! Both the Congress and the BJP are crying hoarse over intimidation and blatant booth capturing and asking for a re-poll. In fact, while the Congress accuses the Naga People's Front (NPF) of indulging in it, the latter has demanded re-election in four polling stations in Churachandpur district, accusing Kuki militant outfits of booth capturing. In this bout of allegations and counter-allegations the EC would need to tread carefully. Are the Chief Electoral Officer’s figures of 82 per cent voting having taken place reason to be upbeat? With such allegations a re-poll announcement would be more welcome.

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UP’s Sinister Campaigning 

The battle of the ballot in Uttar Pradesh is indeed turning ugly. With the State having the largest chunk of seats (80) in the Lok Sabha, leaders of the main parties are simply losing all sense of decency, to say the least. There is mindless polarisation in Western UP with the big-wigs going all out to woo or wean back their respective vote-banks. Speeches openly seek to divide the electorate between them and us, read Hindus and Muslims. The recent and brazen cases being of Modi’s trusted lieutenant Amit Shah having FIRs lodged against him for giving hate speech in Muzzaffarnagar ‘seeking revenge for the insult’, and SP’s Azam Khan’s coming under the Election Commission lens for his comment that the Kargil war was won by “Muslim soldiers and not Hindus.” Add to these, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav’s absurd statement in Moradabad saying that ‘rape accused should not be hanged as boys do make mistakes’, in reference to the three offenders in Mumbai’s photo-journalist gang rape case. While he sure has women activists up in arms, it shouldn’t bother him for his message was to the minority community, (two of the accused belong to it). Wonder what level will UP politics and its netas stoop to.     

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West Bengal-EC Spat

West Bengal springs no surprise for the Election Commission. It is well-versed with Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee’s histrionics. Rather by now it knows how to wield the stick. The EC’s directive that five SPs and three DM’s be transferred because of a question mark on their impartiality was vehemently opposed by didi, saying she would not “remove a single officer….let the EC come and arrest me”. However, within two days the firebrand complied, for the poll body spoke her language. It threatened to withhold the elections, which the TMC could ill-afford given that Mamata is riding high on opinion polls which are predicting a majority of the 42 Lok Sabha seats going in her favour. But it still hasn’t stopped her from attacking the Commission. Mamata has vowed to take revenge against Delhi’s insult to Bengal, and will act once the elections are over! That is more than a month away. Till then the EC has its way and it’s losing no time to probe the latest attack. Guess it’s enjoying this cat and mouse game.

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Gujarat’s Treasure Hunt

Gujarat has made the media go on a treasure hunt. The big story of BJP’s Prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi giving his status as married has sent the press into a spin. After much fanfare and a massive road show in Vadodara to file his nomination paper’s Modi decided this time not to leave the spouse section vacant and put the name, Jashodaben. He obviously couldn’t take chances of facing disqualification for filing a wrong affidavit. The story now turns out that he married Jashodaben when she was 17, but after three years they parted company amicably. Modi was a RSS pracharak and she understood that there was no place for her in his life. It seems so even now. Jasodaben, now 62 and a retired teacher is no longer in her village, Unjha, away from the world's gaze. For how long, one doesn’t know. But her wish of being officially acknowledged as his wife has come true. Will her prayers of Modi becoming PM be answered, is now the big question. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)