The Hindu : Four States go to polls today

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 01, 2003

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Four States go to polls today

By Neena Vyas

A trader going around Raipur with flags of all major political parties tied to his motorcycle conveying the message that all of them are the same as far as the common man is concerned. — Photo: V. Sudershan

NEW DELHI NOV. 30 . With polling in the four States — Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh — due to begin at 8 a.m. on Monday morning, the two major political parties, the BJP and the Congress, are on the edge. Their fate in these States will be sealed by 5 p.m. when polling will come to an end. Since electronic voting machines are being used in all the four States, a clear picture will emerge by the afternoon of December 4 when counting of ballots will be taken up.

Both parties were today making last-minute preparations to ensure that no polling booth is left unmanned by their agents. With 1,02,056 booths spread over practically the entire central and northwestern belt of the country, the two parties, contesting almost all the seats, have undertaken a huge deployment exercise.

The election campaigns have been heated, even bordering on the abusive, but, by and large, they have been peaceful. This was, however, marred to an extent today when reports from Bilaspur in Madhya Pradesh said that a Congress worker, Mustaq Khan, was shot dead by unidentified assailants as he was coming out of the Dayal Bandh election office. The Congress candidate from the area, Anil Tah, immediately blamed the rival party. In Chhattisgarh, the big news of the day was the arrest of Yudhveer Judev, the son of the BJP's star campaigner, Dilip Singh Judev, the hero of the now infamous and controversial videotape. Reports from Jashpur — Dilip Singh Judev belongs to this area — said that the police have charged Yudhveer and about 20 of his supporters with disturbing the peace in the area by not allowing rival political parties to display their flags, deflating the tyres of vehicles and breaking their windshields.

In all the four States, the Congress is the ruling party and, to that extent, its job is all the more difficult. The BJP, on the other hand, has everything to gain, but party leaders admit that if it fails to win the elections in at least two States, its image will take a severe beating. With the Lok Sabha polls due in 10 months, the stakes are high for both the parties.

The elections are also significant as the two parties are directly pitched in battle against each other. The regional forces — the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party, the Janata Dal (United) and the Indian National Lok Dal — are contesting only a few seats and their role is marginal. However, the BSP could play a role in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh where it is expected to win some seats in the event of neither the BJP nor the Congress getting a clear majority.

The political atmosphere is expected to get fairly heated once the results are out, irrespective of who wins where.

Seven killed in naxal attack

PTI reports from Raipur:

Six policemen, including an Assistant Platoon Commander, and a civilian were killed when naxalites set off a landmine targeting a convoy of the Congress candidate from the Bijapur Assembly constituency in Chhattisgarh, who escaped unhurt, last evening.

The outlawed People's War naxalites carried out the attack in Kungupalli village in the Bastar district when the Congress nominee, Rajendra Pambhoi, was returning after electioneering, the Bijapur Superindent of Police, J.S. Watti, said today.

The security personnel jeep, which was following Mr. Pambhoi's car, was blown to pieces.

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