Election fever begins

Punjab, Uttaranchal and Manipur are the last states to go to election before the turn of the mother of all battles for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh. Hi Time Express’s Aziz Haider explores the highs and lows of the mood in these states when they are readying to go to polls.
Voting for 117-member Punjab assembly will take place on February 13, while the 70-member Uttaranchal assembly elections are to be held on February 21. In Manipur, the elections will be held in three phases, on February 8, February 15 and February 23. The counting and results will take place at all the three places on February 27.

Tough fight in store at Punjab; BSP the dark horse
Punjab is going to polls on February 13. There are 1039 candidates in the fray fighting for the 116 assembly constituencies in Punjab, while the election to the Valtaoha assembly segments has been countermanded following the death of the CPI candidate there.
The campaigning has reached its peak as we write this peak. Only recently, Congress dispatched Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on a State visit, wherein he addressed rallies in Patiala and Ludhiana.
Speaking at Patiala, the PM said: “We have our Congress-led government at the centre. If you re-elect the Congress in Punjab, I can assure you that my government (in the centre) will give full support to the state government. We will make Punjab the number one state in the country.” Wonder what has been done for past two years when there are Congress led governments, both in Punjab and Centre.
Holding the Shiromani Akali Dal responsible for the dark period of Sikh terrorism in Punjab during 1982-92, Manmohan Singh urged the electorate to compare the achievements of the Congress and the Akalis.
'Please compare the Congress rule with that of Akalis. They did not allow any development to take place,' he said.
Sonia Gandhi too has also personally entered the fray and will be addressing several rallies during the last few days prior to election with an aim to catch the voters during the last moments.
The major highlight of these elections is the great number of dissidents, both in the ruling Congress’s camp and the major contender Prakash Singh Badal’s camp. However, there is a general opinion that though it may not come to power, BSP is set to influence the outcome of several assembly seats in these elections.
The position of Congress is particularly bad, which during the last few years of Capt Amarinder Singh as Chief Minister witnessed rebellion from the sitting MLAs twice, which threatened to rock the Congress government in the State.
Presently, Congress is faced with an acute problem of dissidence in its ranks as rebels are opposing the official Congress candidate in 27 assembly segments. These rebels continue to remain in fray despite Capt. Amarinder Singh and PPCC president Shamsher Singh Dullo trying their level best to persuade the rebels to withdraw their nominations against the official candidates. Consequently, AICC general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi has announced that all Congress rebels who are opposing the official candidates automatically stood expelled from the primary membership of the party for six years.
Consequently, all the 27 rebel candidates of Congress stand expelled.
Meanwhile, Akali Dal (Badal) too has not remained without dissidence. The party has expelled six rebels who refused to withdraw their nomination papers against official candidates after the expiry of the deadline for withdrawal of nominations.
All is not well for Akali Dal (Badal) since it received a major political set back in Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) elections sometime back where his party lost the mandate to its core rival Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) led by Paramjit Sarna.
It is widely believed that this loss is going to reflect on the Punjab elections. SAD (Delhi) led by Paramjit Sarna got clear cut majority in DSGMC by winning 28 seats, where as Akali Dal (BADAL) got 12 and SAD (Panthic) got 6 seats in the house of 46. SAD (Delhi) is said to be having tacit support of Bibi Joginder Kaur Tohra, wife of late Gurcharan Singh Tohra. Also, SAD (Panthic) had support of former Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh, which also has mustered some support against Akali Dal (Badal). Badal had removed Bhai Ranjit Singh from Sri Akal Takht Sahib when he tried to intervene on the issue of dispute between Badal and Tohra.
This loss of Akali Dal (Badal) has given some relief to Congress, reeling under dissidents and incumbency factors. However, the road continues to be uphill for Congress party.

The Chief Minister lives life king-size
Capt. Amarinder Singh, the Chief Minister of Punjab, has left all other CM’s behind when it comes to opulence and ostentatious living. Therefore, while our own Mulayam has to sneak out to Sahara land to enjoy ‘some moments of peace’, the Punjab CM blatantly displays his wealth so much so that he flies in to capital Chandigarh every morning from his palace in Patiala.
Hailing from the royal family of Patiala, Capt. Amarinder Singh is also known for lavish parties where wine flows like water and delicacies from all over the region spread out in sumptuous menus in front of the guests. Recently, Capt. Amarinder Singh’s large-heartedness has been witnessed by the local journalists who have announced great bounties on the members of the fourth estate. As regards to his ministers, they have been given luxurious Camrys to reach office while the CM’s own office was modernized after spending more than 3 crore rupees.
All this blatant display of wealth is being carried out by the Congress CM in spite of Party President Sonia Gandhi’s strictures to party men to follow a code of conduct. She had said in one of her statements: “The lifestyle of many of our leaders can put us to shame. I am pained by the way they flaunt their wealth – whether it’s during marriages or birthdays. It seems as if our sympathy for the poor is a joke. I’m strictly against this vulgar display of wealth…”
In spite of such clear remarks, it is apparent that they have fallen on deaf ears. And with Punjab Chief Minister openly flouting Sonia Gandhi’s guidelines on austerity, it is obvious that some Congressmen pay no heed to President’s directives when it comes to spending their wealth.

Sonia wooing voters in Manipur too
Voting for the first phase of the Assembly elections in Manipur has already taken place. Observers believe that the campaigning has largely remained lackluster but during the last few days when Congress president Sonia Gandhi addressed a few major public rallies.
Maintaining the territorial integrity of Manipur is a major poll plank for Congress in the backdrop of the demand by the NSCN (IM) outfit for the integration of all the Naga-dominated areas in the region into a greater Nagalim. In her rally, Congress president categorically stated the government was ‘seriously and genuinely’ considering the recommendations of the Jeevan Reddy Committee on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), 1958.
The Centre has been engaged in a long-drawn process of negotiation with the Naga militant outfit for more than a decade now ever since the government signed a ceasefire pact with the outfit.
Meanwhile, Azang Rongmei, general secretary of the united Naga Council (UNC) called upon every Naga to understand why the Indo-Naga talks sojourned after Manipur elections and expressed his views that the election will play a catalytic part in a "win-win" situation for both ends.
President Naga Women Union Manipur, Grace Shatsang gave a key note address on Naga issues where she stated the rights of the Nagas and their land for which their forefathers struggled. The coming election is the election of "Nagas integretion vs Manipur integration," she added.Thousands and thousands at a gathering shouted the slogan "Long live Naga-lim" three times in unison after the speaker.

BJP giving Congress a run for its money at Uttaranchal
BJP stands a great chance of victory in the forthcoming elections in Uttaranchal. This is in spite of Narayan Dutt Tiwari’s recent public comments that the Congress was to retain its hold over the State. Fact remains that even ND Tiwari knows in his heart that it will be extremely difficult for him to cross the half-way mark this time and it is this reason why he has already announced that he won’t be a candidate for Chief Minister in case the Congress was to return to power in the State.
In the previous elections, the BSP had also registered its presence in the state by winning seven seats in Haridwar and Uddham Singh Nagar. In fact, it was BSP, securing 10.93% votes, which damaged the BJP and prevented it from coming to power. BSP is to play a significant role this time as well though SP will continue to remain on periphery like on last occasion when it contested 63 seats but at the 57 seats its candidates could not save their deposits. The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) too could upset the calculations this time. The party got 5.49% votes and four seats during the last elections.
In the previous elections the BSP had also registered its presence in the state by winning seven seats in Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar. In fact, the victory of BSP damaged the prospects of BJP. The BSP had got 10.93 per cent votes. The SP had, however, contested 63 seats but at the 57 seats its candidates could not save their deposits. But later it won the Haridwar Lok Sabha seat, and may now open its account in the state assembly. The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) had bagged 5.49 per cent votes with four seats. Three seats were won by independents. The CPI had fielded 11 candidates and the CPM had fielded five candidates last time but they all lost their deposits.
If we look at the outcome of the last assembly polls in Uttaranchal held in February, 2002, the Congress had received 26.91% votes (36 seats) while the BJP bagged 25.45% votes with 19 seats. Compared to the Congress, the BJP had bagged just 42,000 less votes out of the total 28,63,886 (54.34%) polled last time. This time, Congress is already reeling under several cases of corruption and the negative fallout of remaining in power for the past five years. Though more than 8 lakh new voters have been added in the State, who are going to play a crucial role in the elections, if we keep in mind the last year’s position, mere one per cent swing in favour of BJP will bring the party to power. Analysts feel that this is most likely to happen.
It is perhaps this reason why prominent Congress leaders skipped Uttaranchal and concentrated on Manipur and Punjab this election season.