Guwahati, Nov 16 Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi Monday claimed several senior opposition party leaders and legislators were keen to join the ruling Congress party ahead of the 2011 assembly elections.

The chief minister said some leaders of the main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Asom United Democratic Front (AUDF) were holding informal talks with Congress ministers and legislators in an effort to join the ruling party.

“I cannot take names but then many of them from the AGP, BJP and even the AUDF were keen to join the Congress. We are not in a position to commit them party tickets for the 2011 elections right now and hence have not decided on taking them into the party fold,” the chief minister told reporters.

Political equations ahead of the 2011 assembly elections in Assam are bound to change. Already there are murmurs with indications of realignment of forces.

“Yes, anything is possible in politics. But then we find that the people of Assam trust the Congress party than any other formations in the state,” Gogoi said.

The Congress has already gone into election mode with the chief minister chairing a cabinet meeting Monday to chalk out strategies to face the electorate.

“The thrust of the cabinet meeting was to make sure all the ministers speed up and accelerate the pace of development in the next 15 to 18 months,” Gogoi said.

The Congress won the assembly elections in 2001, then again in 2006, besides convincingly winning the local council elections last year and more recently the two by-elections.

“We are going for a hat-trick and hope to win the 2011 elections convincingly,” Gogoi said.

At a time when the chief minister exuded confidence, the morale of the AGP is at its lowest with internal bickerings and demands for leadership change getting strident.

“The AGP is down and out. We don’t even think of them as a force,” the chief minister said.

NEW DELHI: The Congress-led UPA government has come under enormous pressure to act on reports about China’s plans to build a dam on the river Brahmaputra in Tibet. With Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi expressing serious concern over the development, the issue likely to become a political hot potato for the Congress state government unless the Centre is seen to be making efforts to stop the construction of the dam.

Mr Gogoi, who is in the Capital to meet the Prime Minister, held a press conference last week to broadcast his government’s worry about the construction of the dam up stream on the Brahmaputra, called the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet. He had said such a project by China would affect Assam and dry up the life sustaining river and its tributaries downstream.

“Our apprehension is that if a dam is constructed on the main stream of the Brahmaputra, it will make the Brahmaputra to dry up and affect our water resources. I took up the matter with the Union foreign affairs minister and water resources minister too,” Mr Gogoi had said.

The leader is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and foreign minister SM Krishna on the issue. Meetings on the issue are expected over the next two three days. A delegation from Arunachal Pradesh, led by the outgoing CM Dorjee Kandu, met the PM on the issue on Monday. The group is also expected to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

The Central government has maintaining that it is studying whether China was indeed building a dam on the Brahmaputra as part of its 540 MW Zangmu hydroelectric project. However, the Assam government’s political exigencies are a lot more urgent.

“We don’t want to depend solely on the Centre. We will prepare a contingency plan on our own so that we know what measures need to be taken to face any situation. We may engage IIT for the exercise,” Mr Gogoi said on Friday. He said the state government would set up a committee of experts to examine the fallout of the Brahmaputra being diverted.

Mr Gogoi’s statement came a day after it was reported that China was undertaking work on the dam. The contention has been verified by further reports that the government has undertaken a large-scale project to relocate people to facilitate the country’s north-south water diversion project.

Reports from China said plans were ready for resettlement work involving 3,30,000 people in China’s Hubei and Henan provinces. China plans to use the water diversion project, which will stretch across the country, to feed the parched areas of Beijing, Tianjin, Henan and Hebei regions. The resettlement work is expected to be complete by 2011. Reports also suggested that this would be China’s second largest resettlement plan after the Three Gorges dam.

The spokesperson of the Union external affairs ministry Vishnu Prakash had said that India would seek to know from the Chinese government whether there were recent developments that suggested a change from the position conveyed to India earlier. The Chinese side has denied plans to construct dams on the Brahmaputra earlier, dismissing it as reports in the media.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked Assam Governor Syed Sibtey Razi, who was earlier Jharkhand Governor, to demit office and save the UPA government the embarrassment after CBI raids are said to have affirmed reports of alleged corruption in the Jharkhand Raj Bhavan under Razi’s watch.

“At a meeting on August 11, the PM asked Razi to relinquish office on health grounds but Razi insisted on time until October when his five-year term comes to an end. He also told the PM that he needed time to explain his position to party president Sonia Gandhi,” a senior official in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.

However, the PM insisted — at the five-minute meeting — that the former Jharkhand Governor put in his papers and then approach the party high command for rehabilitation, the official added. Later that night, Razi met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to reiterate his stand.

Sources said the PM used “moral persuasion” since an official recall order requires a notification by the President following recommendation of the Union Cabinet which would have embarrassed the UPA.

They said Razi — who was sworn in as Assam Governor on July 27 — had also sought time from Home Minister P Chidambaram on August 7 to give his side of the story even though the request is ostensibly to discuss corruption in North East Council, the nodal agency for economic and social development in the North-eastern states. He has been given time tomorrow evening, sources added.

However, Razi’s request for a meeting with Sonia Gandhi has not come through, they said.

The UPA government shunted Razi from Jharkhand to Assam on July 18 after then IB’s Ranchi station-in-charge Janardan Singh confirmed an ex-MLA’s complaint to the PMO of alleged corruption involving the Governor and his staff.

A week after new governor K Sankaranarayanan took charge of Jharkhand, the CBI raided the houses of his former aides — Rajesh Thakur who was personal secretary since Razi took over as Governor in 2004 and IAS officer Avinash Kumar who joined as Officer on Special Duty after President’s Rule was imposed in Jharkhand in January this year. Both are under the scanner for having amassed assets allegedly disproportionate to their income.

Immediately after the raids, the BJP demanded a CBI probe into Razi’s assets and sought his dismissal. BJP Jharkhand president Raghubar Das had then alleged that Razi took bribes for the transfer and posting of officials and misused funds meant for 34th National Games to be held in Jharkhand. The state is likely to go for assembly polls in October-November along with Maharashtra and Haryana.

Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, while expressing serious concerns over the latest killing of Bihari migrant workers in Assam, appealed to the Central government to intervene in the matter and direct the Assamese government to check violence against Biharis in the state.

"The Center cannot remain a moot spectator when Biharis are systematically being assaulted and murdered in Assam. The Home Ministry must look into the matter to assure safety of the people of Bihar who have chosen to make Assam their home," Modi said at a press conference in Patna on Wednesday.

The Deputy Chief Minister also directed the Chief Secretary to contact his counterpart in Assam to review the situation in the northeast state.

Meanwhile, the state government announced a compensation of Rs. 1 lakh to the family members of the latest victims of violence in Assam.

Guwahati , May 31 : BJP today admitted that the party&aposs performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls in Assam was not satisfactory and they would hold a series of meetings to analyse the reasons behind this.

BJP&aposs Central observer for Assam Harendra Pratap told reporters here that though the party had improved its tally from two to four in the state but the overall results were not"up to our satisfaction".

The party will hold a series of brainstorming sessions in the state to analyse the performance of the candidates and also chalk out future strategy, he said.

The BJP had won the Gauhati, Mangaldoi, Nagaon and Silchar constituencies in the just-concluded general polls. Congress emerged as the winner with seven seats.

Poll arithmetic has now become the favourite pastime for politicians with nine days to go for the counting of votes May 16. Elections to 14 parliamentary seats in the state concluded in two phases April 16 and 23 with an estimated 70 percent polling recorded.

“We analysed in detail and made some calculations and are confident of winning four to five of the six seats we contested,” a senior leader of the main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) said.

The AGP and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had a pre-poll seat sharing agreement - the BJP fielded candidates in eight of the 14 seats and the AGP contested in six seats.

“The AGP-BJP combine has the potential to get more than nine seats,” senior BJP leader Charan Deka said.
Similar calculations are being made by the ruling Congress party.

“We expect to win more seats than in the 2004 polls,” Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said.

The Congress won nine seats in the 2004 elections, while an independent candidate later supported the ruling party. But analysts say poll arithmetic by political parties based on feedbacks from their own supporters would fail to give a clear picture.

“It is some sort of an entertainment for political parties. Their supporters are involved in an exercise that is unlikely to be a reality,” said Akhil Ranjan Dutta, a teacher at Gauhati University and coordinator for the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), one of India’s best-known independent research institutes.

“Unless the exercise is carried out in a scientific manner, such poll arithmetic is bound to go wrong,” said Manoranjan Goswami, a noted political columnist.

But politicians are in no mood to give up.

“We are sure of our calculations and you can see that on May 16,” the BJP leader said.

Experts are, however, not expecting any major surprise when results are announced next week.

“I don’t think there would be any major surprises, a few seats here and there - one or two seats down for the Congress or a couple might go in favour of the AGP-BJP alliance and nothing beyond that,” Dutta said.

By Isfaqur Rahman

The election scenario in Assam has been hazy and the prospects of the contending parties are still unpredictable. It has been a seemingly waveless election and the campaign largely media driven. There was, however, perceptible anti-incumbancy sentiment, if not wave, sweeping across the state.

Sporadic incidents of extremist violence and subversive activities became a cause of worry on the eve of the elections. The stepped up extremist offensives of the banned outfits in Karbi-Anglong and North Cachar vitiated the atmosphere and affected electioneering in the two hill districts. In the Brahmaputra valley, too, the situation was not quite condusive, free and fair. Stray but frequent incidents of bomb-blasts and extremist attacks left several persons dead in the run-up to the elections. In the capital city of Guwahati alone, at least 10 persons were killed since the announcement of the poll schedule.

Of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam, the ruling Congress put up its candidates in 13 seats leaving one seat — Kokrajhar to its coalition partner — the Bodo People's Front (BPF). However, the BPF has fielded its own candidate in Mangaldoi LS constituency against the Congress nominee and the two parties are engaged in 'friendly' fight in the seat. In the 2006 Assembly polls, the Hagrama Mahilary-led BPF won 11 of the 126 seats and extended support to Mr. Tarun Gogoi-led Congress-BPF coalition government.

Although the BJP has been licking its wounds inflicted by its former allies in most States, it has been able to thrash out an alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) in Assam. The AGP has been forced to become a junior partner by getting only six of the 14 LS seats. The regional party has still been facing hit from a substantial section of its workers and supporters who were angry with the leadership for joining hands with the communal BJP. The AGP is on the backfoot for the unholy alliance and the issue has virtually become a thorn in the flesh of its leadership. Although it has stitched up an alliance with the BJP, the regional party still maintains that it is not a constituent of the BJP-led NDA.

The Rabiram Narzary-led Bodo People's Progressive Front (BPPF) has snapped its ties with the AGP on the eve of the elections. Cracks had appeared in the two party alliance after AGP joined hands with the BJP and decided to put up its own candidate for the Kokrajhar seat. The unprincipled alliance and opportunistic position of the AGP harmed secular-unity in the State.

Barring the left Parties and the relatively new Asom United Democratic Front (AUDF), the non-Congress and non-BJP opposition Parties have little presence and influence in the State. The CPI(M) is the strongest among the left in terms of organisation and influence, area and base. The party tried to consolidate the left unity and to work out seat-sharing arrangements with other secular parties to ensure the defeat of the Congress-BPF and the BJP-AGP combines.

The non-BJP and non-Congress parties, popularly called third force, represented by the CPI(M), CPI, NCP, AUDF and BPPF have tried to build up unity and enter into electoral adjustments. Several rounds of bi-lateral and multi-lateral discussions were also held and it had evoked wide response among the voters who were disenchanted with the ruling Congress-led dispensation and who were not willing to go with the AGP-BJP combine. The seat sharing arrangements, however, could not be properly and smoothy materialised. The big-brotherly and intransigent attitude of the AUDF was largely responsible for the crack in unity among the parties. The unilateral declaration of candidatures by the AUDF before the finalisation of the seat sharing deal hampered the prospects of the third force.

The CPI(M) decided to contest in three seats — Barpeta, Tezpur and Silchar. While the talks were in progress, the AUDF unilaterally fielded its own candidates in all the three seats claimed by the CPI(M). In the Guwahati seat, too, despite a formal agreement to leave the seat to the NCP, the AUDF hurriedly decided to put up its own candidate at the last hour of filing nomination papers. However, despite the internal contradictions and fragile unity, the emergence of the third force has made the contests triangular.

The CPI(M) has put up candidates in three constituencies. It has fielded Durge Deka for the Barpeta seat, Jiten Sundi for the Tezpur seat and Deepak Bhattacharyya for the Silchar seat. Twice represented by senior party leader Uddhab Barman, in 1991 and 1996, the prestigious Barpeta seat is presently represented by the Congress. In the 2004 elections, the Congress candidate A.F. Golam Osmani, who passed away on March 31 last following protracted illness, won the seat. The Tezpur seat is presently held by M. K. Subba of the Congress and the Silchar seat is represented by Union Minister and Congress leader Santosh Mohan Dev.

The CPI (M) has extended support to the CPI candidates in Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur LS seats. It has also supported the Forward Block candidate for the Nagaon seat. The Party had decided to back the NCP candidates in Guwahati and Autonomous District (Diphu) seats while extending support to the BPPF candiates in Kokrajhar and Mangaldoi seats. For the remaining three seats at Dhubri, Karimganj and Kaliabor, the CPI(M) appealed to the voters to cast their votes in favour of non-Congress secular parties.

The AUDF has put up candidates in nine of the 14 LS seats with its president Badruddin Ajmal contesting from two seats — Silchar and Dhubri. Perfume baron Ajmal's brother Sirajuddin Ajmal is also contesting from two seats of the Nagaon and Kaliabor. Both the brothers are presently members of the Assam Assembly. The AUDF with a sizeable minority support base has emerged as a threat to the poll prospects of the ruling Congress in Assam. The State, a traditional Congress bastion has nine MPs from the ruling party. But the emergence of relatively new AUDF since the last Assembly elections in 2006 has made the going difficult for the Congress and it wil certainly spoil the chances of the Congress candidates in a number of seats. The Congress has alleged that the AUDF had entered into a 'secret understanding' with the AGP-BJP combine to defeat the ruling party in the parliamentary polls.

Issues Ignored by Major Parties

The performance of the Tarun Gogoi-led coalition government in Assam has been disappointing. The neo-liberal economic policies of the UPA government has been spelling disaster in the backward State. Now the Congress has been facing a challenging task as most of the 14 LS seats are set to witness triangular contest involving the Congress-BPF coalition. BJP-AGP combine and the Parties of the third force.

In the 2004 elections, the Congress won nine seats while the AGP and the BJP captured two seats each. One seat went to an independent candidate, backed by the All Bodo Students' Union, who later joined the BPF. The Congress secured 35.07 per cent of votes, the BJP 22.94 per cent and the AGP 19.25 per cent.

The run-up to the Lok Sabha elections has made many in the State question the stances of major parties vis-a-vis crucial issues which they believe should have been in the centre of political debate and discussions, but which have either been marginalised or simply ignored. The Congress, BJP and the AGP were least concerned with the issues concerning people and were indulging in mud-slinging and petty quarrels.

The AGP-BJP combine had little in common on the issues confronting the State. The BJP's views on issues like illegal migration, re-structuring of centre-state relations etc. are not similar with the views expressed by the AGP. On the development of Assam, too, the six-year rule of the BJP-led dispensation had done precious little. The BJP leader L. K. Advani had choosen Kheroni in Karbi-Anglong as the venue of his first election rally in Assam and said, his Party was sympathetic to the demand for the creation of two autonomous districts of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills as an Autonomous State within Assam under the provision of Article 244-A of the Constitution. This would, in fact, mean another division of Assam. The BJP's stance on this issue exposed its oppotunistic readiness to make any compromise to win power. It is widely believed, BJP's money power had a big role in stitching up an alliance with the AGP. The alliance, however, suffered a jolt when the nomination of the BJP candidate for the Dhubri constituency was rejected on the ground that he had not submitted the mandatory A-B forms along with the nomination papers.

BPF chief Hagrama Mahilary has stated that the extremist outfit NDFB, currently under ceasefire agreement, helped some Congress candidates for the current Lok Sabha elections in lieu of money. Interestingly, the BPF is a coalition partner of the ruling Congress. Mr. Mahilary, who is also the chief of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), accused the NDFB of helping some BJP and AUDF candidates in the elections in lieu of money. He also revealed that he himself had paid money to the NDFB in 2004 LS polls. The extremist outfit, too, issued statements and admitted that it supported Congress candidate at Tezpur and BJP candidates at Mangaldoi and Guwahati for the current elections. However, the Congress, the BJP and the AUDF are yet to make any official reaction to the accusation that the NDFB helped some of the candidates of the respective parties in exchange of money.

CPI(M) Highlights People's Sufferings

Apart from popularising the national issues incorporated in the CPI(M) Manifesto, the State unit of the Party also published an appeal to the electorate and focussed on certain state-specific issues the people are confronted with.
The State-specific issues were : speedy development of Assam with priority in infrastructure and employment generation, rapid industrialisation on the basis of huge natural resources, solution to the problems of floods and erosion and expansion of irrigation facilities, sealing of Indo-Bangla border and updating of the National Register of Citizenship (NRC), proper implementation and expansion of the NREGA schems, solutions to the problems of terrorism and extremism etc.

The CPI(M) Polit Bureau members, Sitaram Yechury and Brinda Karat adressed a number of well organised election rallies alongwith the state-leaders in Tezpur and Barpeta constituencies. CPI(M) central secretariat member Nilotpal Bosu and central committee members Badal Chaudhury, Tapan Sen and Noorul Huda also participated in electioneering in the three constituencies where CPI(M) has fielded candidates. Similarly, former M.P. Deepankar Mukherjee, Rajya Sabha member Moinul Hussain and DYFI General Secretary Tapas Sinha addressed election meetings in the state.

A day after Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat hit the roads to campaign for the CPI(M) candidates for the Barpeta and Tezpur constituencies, Sitaram Yechury addressed two election meetings at Manikpur and Bongaigaon on April 19 in support of the party nominee Durge Deka.

Addressing the huge gatherings, Sitaram Yechury said, "for the sake of Assam's development, I request you all to usher in a change in the political scenario by voting for the CPI(M)". He further added, the third forces had put its full strength and effort to bring the real issues — growing job losses, agrarian crisis, price rise and corruption — before the people and it was finding growing support among the people. He asserted that only a third alternative could ensure India's political, social and economic transformation.

Brinda Karat, addressing rallies at Dhekiajuli, Balipara, Jamuguri, Tezpur, Chamata and Pathsala under Tezpur and Barpeta LS seats on April 17 and 18 exuded confidence that the third forces were all set to form an alternative government at the centre. Warning that the continuance of the Congress government would spell doom for the whole country, Brinda urged the people to vote for the CPI(M) and the secular forces which aimed at protecting the farmers, working class, rural people, women and youth.

CCM Tapan Sen addressed meetings at Bahari in Barpeta and at Tezpur on 30-31 March. Ex-MP Deepankar Mukherjee campaigned at Bongaigaon, Kayakuchi, Kalgachia, Mandia , Pathsala and Barpeta Town on 3-5 April. Nilotpal Bosu addressed well-attended meetings at Dhekiajuli, Rangapara, Biswanath Chariali and Tezpur on 8-9 April. The Silchar constituency in Barak Valley was covered and election meetings were addressed by Tripura Minister and CCM Badal Chaudhury, CCM Noorum Huda and DYFI General Secretary Tapas Sinha. Rajya Sabha member Moinul Husain addressed meetings at Kalgachia, Barbala, Palhaji etc. under Barpeta seat on April 19. Most of the meetings were also attended and addressed by senior state leaders of the Party including the two CCMs — Uddhab Barman and Hemen Das.

Polling By And Large Peaceful : Stray Incidents of Violence

An estimated 69.51 per cent votes were cast for the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam. The two phase elections, scheduled for April 16 and 23, came to a close when polling for the second and final phase was over on April 23. There were 1,74,68,958 electors for the 14 seats. A total of 158 candidates were in the fray.
In the first phase of polling in three constituencies that went to polls on April 16, 64.37 per cent votes were cast in Karimganj LS seat, 70.60 per cent in Silchar seat and 69.36 per cent in Diphu seat. The polling was marred by sporadic incidents of rigging and snatching of EVMs. There were reports of clashes between the workers of the Congress and the AUDF at North Hailakandi under Karimganj LS constituency. Polling was by and large peaceful in the two hill districts of Karbi-Anglong and North Cachar under Autonomous District (Diphu) constituency that witnessed a spurt in extremist violence during the run-up to the polls.

69.82 per cent votes were cast in the second and final phase of polling on April 23 for the remaining 11 seats. However, 12 booths under four LS constituencies of Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur, Dhubri and Tezpur recorded nil polling with the voters boycotting to register protest against local problems. The second phase of polling, too, was by and large peaceful barring stray incidents of violence, rigging attempts and group clashes. In one incident of violence on the polling day, miscreants hacked to death a district leader of the AUDF at a place under Mornoi police station of Dhubri LS constituency. A host of senior Bodo leaders, including sitting MP and candidate for the Kokrajhar constituency S.K. Bwismuthiary, ducked indiscriminate bullets and escaped as miscreants fired on a convoy near Panbari under Gosaigaon P.S. in Kokrajhar district on April 24, a day after the polling.

The repoll in 14 polling stations under Kokrajhar, Mangaldoi and Jorhat parliamentary constituencies passed off peacefully on April 26 with an estimated 64.66 per cent polling amid tight security. Repoll was also held in five booths where first phase of polling was held.

Positive vibes: Amid stray militant violence, good turnout was recorded in Assam … A polling booth at Topkhana in Silchar district.
— PHOTO: MOHAMMED YOUSUF

The new force: Praja Rajyam party chief Chiranjeevi, his wife, son and daughter at a polling station in Hyderabad. — Photo: Ashoke Chakrabarty

Putting past behind: In communal violence-hit Kandhamal, even riot victims voted under police escort. — Photo: Vipin Chandran

Star vote: Mammootty at a booth in Ernakulam. — Photo: K.R. Deepak

A vote for democracy: Maoists’ threats appear to have been ignored at Lothugedda village in Chintapalle mandal, about 150 km from Visakhapatnam, as tribals came out in strength to cast their votes on Thursday. — PHOTO: PTI

Mindless violence: Heavily-armed Maoists struck in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa. This BSF jawan was injured in a Maoist attack at Latehar in Ranchi.

New Delhi: The fate of RJD's Lalu Prasad, BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi and TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao will be decided on Thursday in the polling for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections that was marked by bitter exchanges between petulant politicians.

A total of 124 constituencies spread over 15 states and two Union Territories will go to the polls with a total electorate of 14.31 crores. The polling would be held from 0700 hrs to 1700 hrs in most constituencies and from 0700 hrs to 1500 hrs in naxal-infested areas.

Prominent among those seeking election to the lower house of Parliament in the first phase are Congress' Renuka Chowdhury and Shashi Tharoor, actress Vijayasanthi, NTR's daughter D Purandeswari and former union minister B Dattatreya.

While all 20 seats in Kerala, 11 in Chhattisgarh and two in Meghalaya would go to polls in a single phase on Thursday, polling would be held in 13 out of 40 seats in Bihar, 16 out of 80 in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra 13 (48), Andhra Pradesh 22 (42), Jharkhand 6 (14), Orissa 10 (21), Assam 3 (14), Arunachal Pradesh 2 (2), Manipur 1 (2) and Jammu and Kashmir 1 (6).

The lone seats in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Mizoram and Nagaland would also be covered.

Voters casting their vote in the first phase will have to wait for more than a month for the results as counting will be taken up only on May 16.

Elections are also simultaneously being held to 154 assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh and 70 assembly seats in Orissa in the first phase.

A total of 1,715 candidates, including 122 women, are seeking elections to the Lok Sabha. The polling would be held across 1.85 lakh election stations. As has become customary, voters would be exercising their franchise through Electronic Voting Machines.

The campaigning was mostly peaceful but verbally violent. with politicians making personal attacks. The highlight remains Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's retort to the repeated attacks by his BJP rival L K Advani, who had called him the "weakest", and Varun Gandhi's alleged hate-speech in the Lok Sabha constituency of Pilibhit.

Varun has since given an undertaking to the Supreme Court that he would not make any speeches that incite communal passions.

The Supreme Court will be hearing the matter on Thursday when parts of the country would already be voting to decide who would go to Lok Sabha.

Guwahati, Apr 10 : In Assam, altogether 158 candidates are left in the fray for the 14 Lok Sabha seats polling for which has been slated in two phases on 16th and 23rd of this month.

37 candidates will vie for the three constituencies of Silchar, karimganj and Autonomous District going to polls in the first phase of election on 16th of this month.121 candidates are contesting for the remaining 11 constituencies going to polls in the second phase on 23rd.

AIR Guwahati Correspondent reports that with only four days left for campaigning for the first phase of election, political parties contesting the election have geared up their strategy to woo the voters.

Senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee is arriving at Silchar today to campaign for the party nominee In Silchar Lok Sabha seat.

Meanwhile, campaigning for the second phase of election slated on 23rd of this month in the State is picking up slowly.

Tezpur (Assam), Apr 3 : A naked young woman running for her life down the streets of Guwahati - that shameful sight of November 24, 2007 is still seared into the minds of many people in this state. Now that woman has decided to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Assam's Tezpur seat.

Laxmi Orang was among thousands of people who had converged at Guwahati that November day to take part in a rally demanding Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to workers in Assam's tea gardens. The agitation turned violent with the protesters clashing with locals. In the melee, the young woman was stripped.

One tribal protester was killed and scores wounded in the clash. Laxmi was running for her life when a local youth took off his T-shirt, wrapped it around the woman, and led her to safety.

Photographs of Laxmi running naked were splashed across the newspapers the next morning and the whole of Assam was numbed by the act.

Today Laxmi has overcome the trauma and has plunged into politics - she has filed her papers to be a candidate for the April 23 parliamentary elections from Tezpur. She is the nominee of the Asom United Democratic Front (AUDF), a party led by perfume baron Badruddin Ajmal.

"Everybody knows about my plight...my case is a true reflection of the injustice and apathy towards the marginalised sections of society," Laxmi said even as she hopped out of a car to address a small roadside meeting.

"I want to represent and do something positive for the people of Assam, especially for women from marginalised communities who are still looked down upon," she said with a glint in her eyes.

She may have a problem, though. Going by the voters' list, she is 18, and you have to be 25 to contest. Her nomination paper says the school dropout is 25, but the AUDF is taking no chances - Laxmi's father Deba Orang also filed his nomination as a substitute AUDF candidate in case Laxmi's papers are rejected.

"Winning or losing is part of the game...but I want to fight for justice and according ST status to my community, besides all other communities who are facing neglect," Laxmi said.

Even if Laxmi's candidature is accepted, her electoral debut is not going to be easy. She will be pitted against Congress party veteran Mani Kumar Subba who is fighting to win the seat for the fourth straight term.

"The response I am getting is overwhelming," Laxmi said as she left for another election meeting.

Guwahati, Apr 3 : Candidates and leaders of various political parties asked their supporters in Assam to take care of themselves and not depend on the state.

The politicians said that the government had left them to fend for themselves.
Security is nearly non-existent, they said citing example of the recent bomb blast close to where Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee was scheduled to address an election rally.

At least one person was killed and 18 wounded when a bomb went off in Jyotikuchi area of Guwahati on Tuesday.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate from Guwahati, Akshay Rajkhuwan squarely blamed the State Government for vulnerable security.

I think that people have to be very careful. We are not bothered about this bomb blast and we know that government is not able to give us security. So we appeal to our people, our voters, our supporters to take care of their own, said Rajkhuwan. handramohan Patowary, president, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) also blamed the government for appealing the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) for peace during sports activities.

All militants groups will try their level best to dominate the situation. It depends on government how it will dominate the whole situation, said Patowary.

More than 80 people were killed in a string of bombings in Assam last year. The attacks were attributed to militants from Bangladesh in league with the ULFA.

The ULFA is among more than two dozen armed groups, most of them fighting for political autonomy.

They accuse New Delhi of plundering the region's mineral and forest resources, neglecting the local economy and giving them back nothing in return.

SANTANU GHOSH

Key Constituency -Silchar

Illustration by Uday Deb Silchar, a key Lok Sabha constituency in south Assam that goes to the polls on April 16, has grabbed attention for sundry reasons. First, the big question doing the rounds is whether this economically-backward constituency will live up to its fame of being a communally-polarised arena. Or have its voters matured enough to exercise their right to franchise purely on civic and economic issues. Second, there are expectations that prime national issues may hog the limelight once campaign intensifies. Surrounded by sylvan hills, this parliamentary constituency has a voter count of 978,460 with the male electorate outnumbering their female counterparts by 49,889 in this seat that covers seven Assembly segments. Agriculture is the mainstay of the constituency. The farmers, numbering about a little over two lakhs, raise only sali crop which is harvested every year from November onwards after a farming season that lasts for five months. For the remaining months, most of them look for odd jobs to make ends meet. The literacy rate in this constituency is still on the lower side — at 68.42 per cent. Lack of proper road connectivity appears to be the main reason for the backwardness of this constituency. Another reason for the distressing plight of the people in the district is lack of industrialisation, both in cottage and heavy industries, fuelling unemployment among the youths. Biswajit Gupta, 42, a teacher, said: “The lack of the employment opportunities in Cachar is unbelievable. As a result, hundreds of educated youths, particularly those who have been groomed in science and technology, choose to migrate to other cities in the country in search of jobs.” This Lok Sabha seat has traditionally been a strong Congress bastion. Since the first general election in 1952, the Congress has been winning it, except on three occasions. In the 1974 bypoll it lost to the CPM. In the 1991 and 1998 parliamentary elections, the BJP won the seat. The Congress triumph, according to the poll watchers, can be attributed to the polarisation of Muslim votes (they comprise 37 per cent of the electorate) and the tea community, accounting for about 11 per cent of the total electorate. The Muslims and the tea estate workers comprise the main vote bank of the Congress. The Muslims fear that the victory of the BJP will spell problems for them while the tea tribes generally vote for the Congress as the party has a strong labour trade union, the legacy of which dates back to the 1930s. In Cachar, generally the Intuc-affiliated Cachar Cha Sramik Union rules the roost. But political observers say the disillusionment among tea workers with the Congress is growing and may reflect in the garden votes. The entry of AUDF leader Badruddin Ajmal, too, is also likely to change the poll equations. There is a possibility of Ajmal weaning away the Muslim votes in Cachar, a majority of whom sent Union heavy industries minister Sontosh Mohan Dev as a Congress MP to the Lok Sabha five times in the past. The last time Dev won the seat was in 2004 when he defeated BJP stalwart and former Union minister Kabindra Purkayastha by over 20,000 votes. He, however, lost to Purkayastha in 1998. Dev is bound to feel uncomfortable in Silchar against Ajmal, throwing a vital challenge to him by trying to wean away large chunks of the Muslim vote. Sources in the local election office said 1,049 polling booths would be set up this time — one more than in 2004. A total of 5,334 poll officials will be mobilised to ensure peaceful polling.  Around 689 booths have been identified as “sensitive” with 293 among these classified as “very sensitive”.

In this age of electronic voting machine, elephants and bullock carts are equally relevant for the election commission who can not think of holding elections without their assistance in some of the most inaccessible polling stations of Assam.
In the heart of the state, which also comprises the capital constituency within Kamrup district, more than five elephants will be used to carry polling personnel and poll materials to hilly and inaccessible areas.
According to Kamrup district administration, at least three elephants would be used to carry poll materials to a remote polling station along the Assam-Meghalaya border, which can be only reached by foot. Nearly 50 porters would be following the pachyderms during their march carrying essentials for the polling personnel in the remote areas.
Similarly the administration will be using motorboats, country boats and over a dozen bullock carts to carry the polling materials to various remote polling stations. There are 274 polling stations which can only be accessed through boats.
Meanwhile Election Commission of India has identified 2975 polling stations as ‘very sensitive’, 6635 ‘sensitive’ and 440 ‘hyper sensitive’ out of the total 18,829 polling stations that will go to poll in two phases on April 16 and April 23 in Assam. Disclosing that they have sought 120 companies of paramilitary forces to conduct the elections in 14 parliamentary constituencies, the chief electoral officer Hemanta Narazary told reporters that election commission of India has assured to provide 75
companies of paramilitary forces to conduct the elections.
He also informed that some companies of the paramilitary force have already arrived and deployed in the three constituencies -- Autonomous districts, Silchar and Karimganj - where election is being held on March 16 next.
Apart from hiring vehicles, the elections commission was also requisitioning boats and elephants to conduct polling in some of most interior polling stations of the state. In
case of emergency, helicopters will also be on the stand by to help the elections officials if necessity arises during the election in the state.
Altogether 1,74,68,958 electorates are eligible to exercise their franchise which includes 90,25,516 males and 8443442 females voters. The Election Commission has assigned 42 central
election observers for Assam. Three observers will be deployed in each of the 14 parliamentary constituencies.
(By arrangement with Deccan Chronicle)

M.S. Prabhakara

Every party in the electoral fray wants a ‘peaceful solution’ to the problem of insurgency in Assam. The problem was how get the insurgents to openly speak their minds, going beyond the rigid formulations of their manifestoes. After all, insurgents are, of necessity, elusive.

Not anymore, it appears. They now routinely keep in touch with the media, though still on their terms, claming or disclaiming responsibility for this or that action.
e-mail ID

The ULFA for instance has an e-mail ID swadhinataeditor@yahoo.co.uk taken in the name of Uddipta Hazarika, that is part of the history and mythology of the ULFA.

There was a time, when getting such a communication, or a call from an ULFA leader would make the recipient’s day.

In the mid-1980s when the ULFA seemed to have a free run in the State, one had to travel in the dead night through several cut-outs and changes of vehicles before one was escorted for an ULFA media briefing.

Now every accredited correspondent gets press handouts neatly typed on its letterheads by e-mail. How things have changed.

Connived in ‘secret killings’ of kin of ULFA leaders


Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday alleged that there were reasons to believe that the Home Ministry during the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime had “connived” with the Prafulla Kumar Mahanta-led Assam government to carry out ‘secret killing’ of family members of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) leaders and others in the State.

Mr. Gogoi told journalists here that the fact that the NDA government had not tried to stop the secret killings during the AGP rule gave rise to this suspicion.

Reacting to allegation by senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani that the Congress had ignored the infiltration problem by not including it in the poll manifesto, Mr. Gogoi said issues like development, unemployment, education, floods and health were the priorities for the Congress. “We are not giving topmost priority to infiltration,” he said.

The Chief Minister said the entire focus of Mr. Advani’s election campaign in the State was the infiltration problem as if there were no other issues.

Accusing the BJP of “communalising” the foreigners’ problem, Mr. Gogoi said the party considered the Hindu foreigners as refugees. “A foreigner is a foreigner. He or she cannot be distinguished on the basis of religion,” the Chief Minister said.

Refuting Mr. Advani’s allegation that the Congress-led governments at the Centre had been neglecting Assam, he claimed that compared to the NDA rule, the State got more projects and assistance during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime. During the NDA tenure, Assam got Rs. 495.25 crore under the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) as against Rs. 1,602 crore during the UPA regime.

SUSHANTA TALUKDAR

Kheroni

The BJP leader woos tribals and Hindi-speaking migrant labour alike in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district

PHOTO: RITU RAJ KONWAR

BJP leader L.K. Advani arrives at Kheroni in Assam to address a rally.

A Karbi war dance and a post-harvest dance of the Dimasas greeted Lal Krishna Advani as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s prime ministerial candidate rose to address his maiden election rally in Assam on Wednesday.
Mr. Advani sounded the poll bugle from the Karbi hills that produced ‘Sabin Alun,’ the first tribal version of the Ramayana in the world, an oral version that is hugely popular among the Karbis.

The meeting hardly lasted an hour. Mr. Advani used the Karbi words ‘Kardom’ (welcome/farewell) and ‘Juthai’ (welcome in Dimasa) and the crowd — a mix of Hindi-speaking sugarcane growers, Karbis and Dimasas, who had waited patiently despite the scorching sun — cheered and clapped. The crowd raised the slogan Advaniji zindabad. Clad in his trademark dhoti, kurta and black jacket, Mr. Advani was presented — and wore — a choy-aan (traditional Karbi jacket) and Dimasa gamocha on stage.

“It is for the first time that I have seen such a big leader setting foot here and addressing a public meeting. In the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, Pramod Mahajan was scheduled to address an election rally. But it was cancelled at the last minute,” said Jaleswar Sahoo, an elderly sugarcane grower, at the rally near the local bazaar.

Kheroni is located at the tri-junction of the three districts of Karbi Anglong, Nagaon and North Cachar Hills, and is known for its sugarcane. The cane farms are mostly worked by Hindi-speaking settlers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, and falls under the Autonomous District Lok Sabha constituency. Mr Advani told the crowd that if voted back to power, the BJP and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would do their best to develop remote and backward areas like Kheroni. He also made a mention of insurgency in his half-hour speech, a calculated attempt to reach out to the Hindi-speaking sugarcane workers, who are often targeted by militants.

Navin Chawla


Guwahati, Mar 25 : Election Commissioner Navin Chawla said on Tuesday that the Commission had told all Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police of Assam and Meghalaya that there should be zero tolerance to violation of the model code of conduct.

Mr. Chawla asked the DCs and SPs of Assam to hire as many video cameras as possible to keep track of the movement of candidates and keep the footage in safe custody. Meghalaya, he said, had around 800 video cameras.

He told a press conference that the full Commission would hear a complaint on Thursday that Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi violated the model code of conduct.

The Opposition Asom Gana Parishad, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Assam United Democratic Front, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India lodged the complaint with the Election Commissioner that Mr. Gogoi admitted at a press conference that he received donations in cheque from a tea lobby during a visit to Kolkata.

Mr. Chawla said the 2009 Lok Sabha polls would be “micromanaged elections” and the Commission would ensure that the last voter was in a position to exercise his franchise in a free and fair manner. He announced that for the first time micro-observers would be deployed in Assam.

He said the heads of families in Assam would be required to come together with his or her family members at the time of voting and produce one of the documents notified by the Commission, as neither the electors’ photo identity cards (epic) nor the photo electoral rolls would be used.

Responding to a question, Mr. Chawla said there were about 1,56,000 D (“doubtful”) category voters in Assam, who would not be allowed to cast their votes as in the previous elections. The names of these voters have been referred to Foreigners’ Tribunals for ascertaining their citizenship status.