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Byelections in J&K:VALLEY VOTES FOR PEACE & STABILITY, by Insaf,26 April 2006 Print E-mail

ROUND THE STATES

New Delhi, 26 April 2006

Byelections in J&K

VALLEY VOTES FOR PEACE & STABILITY

By Insaf

Jammu and Kashmir has voted for peace and against terror in the crucial four byelections for the State Assembly on Monday last.  Braving the militants’ fire and a poll boycott call by them, the voters in the three constituencies in the Valley – Sangarawa, Pattan and Rafiabad – registered a whopping 61 per cent turnout. It was about 72 per cent in the fourth byelection for Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s home constituency of Bhaderwah, from where he contested an election for the first time.  According to the Chief Electoral Officer B.R. Sharma, “the polling percentage was an all-time high”.  This is seen as a clear mandate for stability and development, as also for the ongoing Indo-Pak peace process.

Chief Minister Azad can happily look forward to a cakewalk to victory at Bhaderwah.  But post-poll he may have to do some tightrope walking to survive to the State’s coalition politics, if the pre-poll developments are any indication. Undoubtedly, the ruling allies, the Congress and the PDP, were committed to campaign jointly against the National Conference. But some of the Congress leaders in the Valley openly worked for the NC candidates.  In fact, contests for the three constituencies in northern Kashmir turned out to be a battle of “turncoats”.  Two legislators sought re-election from Rafiabad and Pattan after they deserted the NC for the PDP and at Sangrama the PDP was challenged by the son of its slain Minister and a few of its legislators.

Meanwhile, trouble is slowly brewing between the Congress and the PDP, even though Mufti Sayeed honoured the agreement between the two and handed over the Chief Ministership to Ghulam Nabi Azad three months ago for the second half of the six-year tenure. The differences were clearly visible in last Monday’s byelections. No PDP leader visited Bhaderwah to campaign for Azad. That, perhaps, was not required. But in several places in the Valley the local Congress leaders did not campaign for the PDP candidates. In one place two Congress leaders brazenly shared the dais with Farooq Abdullah.

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Left Upbeat In Kerala

At the end of the first three rounds of the five-phase Assembly poll in West Bengal, the CPM-led Left Front seems set to win power for the seventh time in succession.  What is of greater interest to the Front now is that in Kerala too the Front is upbeat and hopeful of   regaining power. At the end of the first round on April 22 for 59 seats in the 140-member Assembly, Exit pollsters predicted a clear majority for the Left Democratic Front (LDF). Election history of Kerala shows that it is these 59 constituencies in the northern and central parts of the State that usually decide who would rule the State for the next five years.  The UDF won 45 of the 59 seats in 2001.  This time the LDF expects to win at least 40 seats.

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Polling Trend Continues In West Bengal

High turnout in the West Bengal Assembly poll is continuing. So also the Election Commission’s elaborate security arrangements. At the end of the second round of polling on April 22, the voter turnout was 74 per cent for 66 seats in Midnapur, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia. An exit poll has given a “clean sweep” for the ruling Left Front in this segment.  One pollster has given the Front 50 seats, Trinamool Congress 12 and the Congress three.  Contrary to the pollsters’ prediction, the Opposition parties have attributed the big turnout to a “silent revolution” against the ruling Front. Mamata Banerjee, on the other hand, has alleged that the CPM cadres have been rigging the poll, despite the Election Commission’s elaborate arrangements.

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Politics Of Rice In Tamil Nadu

Politics of rice, a staple food for the Tamils, has come to dominate the campaign for the 294-Assembly poll in Tamil Nadu on May 8. It has pushed into the background any other development agenda.  The DMK of Karunanidhi, which is adopting all possible measures to regain power, was the first to make rice a major issue.   If voted to power, it promised rice through the PDS at Rs.2 per kg. The ruling AIADMK rubbished the offer as “impractical and impossible”. But its ally, DMDK offered 15 kg rice free every month to all ration card holders.  Now AIADMK and its ally MDMK of Vaiko have offered 10 kg rice free of cost in the 20 kg. quota per month.  It means 10 kg at the present rate of Rs.3.5 per kg. and the rest free of cost.  Or, Rs.35 for 20 kg, which would be cheaper than the DMK’s poll offer.

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M.P. Bypoll Rescheduled

Madhya Pradesh’s new Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, who is contesting a byelection for the State Assembly from the Budhni constituency, has been punished by the Election Commission for violating the model code of conduct.  The poll, earlier scheduled for April 24, will now be held on May 3.  The ruling BJP in the State had been charged of violating the code on the basis of a complaint by the State Congress leaders. The Commission’s representatives too had found misuse of Government machinery in the Sehore district under which the Budhni Assembly constituency falls.  The PCC Chief, Subhash Yadav and the two AICC Observers, J.P. Agarwal and Nandi Yellait, want the Commission to debar Chauhan from contesting. The Commission has, however, ordered the removal of Sehore’s Collector and its Police Chief.

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“Mahatma” In Andhra CM

Andhra Pradesh’s Chief Minister Rajasekhara Reddy of the Congress has reason to celebrate. Praise upon praise is being heaped on him by the Centre for his development programmes in the State.  The latest has come from the Union Minister of Panchayati Raj and Rural Development, Mani Shankar Aiyar, who equated the Chief Minister with Mahatma Gandhi. The Union Minister gave him the title of “Mahatma” at a public function for following Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of “Gram Swaraj”. Reddy has now given more powers and financial autonomy to the gram panchayats. Meanwhile, the Centre has cleared a proposal to establish five specialized industrial clusters in the State. A corpus of Rs.950 crore for infrastructure development has been created for the clusters in various sectors for consumer goods production.

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Nitish’s Alert To Centre

Bihar and its capital Patna are equally, if not more, concerned than New Delhi about the developments in Nepal.  Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has written to the Ministry of External Affairs to formally request the Nepal Government to deploy adequate security forces around the Kosi barrage in Nepal in view of the blast threat to it by the Moists of Nepal last week.  The State Government has informed the Centre that at present it is totally unprotected and if it is damaged at least half-a-dozen neighbouring districts in Bihar would be badly affected.  The Centre, on its part, has put the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) on high alert along the Nepal border in West Bengal, Bihar, UP and Uttaranchal. Hundreds of Nepali families have already crossed over to the Indian side and many more are on the way.---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

 

 

 

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