The Hindu : National / Elections 2004 : POLL-POURRI

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Saturday, Apr 24, 2004

National

National - Elections 2004

POLL-POURRI

The good day

The BJP and the Congress on April 22 re-adjusted their daily schedule with the media and the general voting public to devote time for the large number of weddings that take place in Rajasthan on this day on the auspicious occasion of "Akshaya Tritiya" or "Aaka Teej".

Of course, the day of abooj sava (wholly auspicious), on which one does not need to look for "muhurat" before fixing auspicious events such as weddings, is known all over as a day of child marriages in Rajasthan. Generally, politicians keep a discreet distance from weddings in which the bride and the groom are below 18 years of age but there have been occasions where as parents they were privy to the age-old social evil. Mainstream politicians in Rajasthan generally do not miss attending marriages that provide an opportunity to meet a cross-section of people. With elections round the corner, the wedding ceremonies also provide a chance for the partymen to carry out their mass contact programme.

Taxing matters

Earlier this month as the Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani's "Bharat Uday Yatra" rolled through Rajasthan, the Congress kicked up a row over the fact that his entourage did not pay toll tax. Now it appears the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, and her cavalcade could well be guilty of the same charge.

As Ms. Gandhi set out to campaign in Rae Bareli a few days ago, her motorcade zipped past the toll collection point between Bachranwa and Gurbaxganj without paying the tax. Not that those manning the toll point asked the fleet of cars to cough up the mandatory Rs. 10 a vehicle. Instead, they let the vehicles pass without once asking for the tax.

Free of graffiti

The industrial city of Durgapur, comprising two of the seven Assembly segments under the Parliamentary constituency, cuts a `clean' but isolated figure in the run-up to the elections this year. In sharp contrast to the walls in the rest of West Bengal that were `booked' by political parties well before the election dates were announced, hardly any graffiti is visible in the steel city.

The State's political parties have always found walls to be the best medium of expressing their creative talents and Durgapur was no exception till the Election Commission's stricture against "defacing government properties."

With a large part of the city comprising large townships of several State and Central public sector undertakings, the political parties find themselves in a tight spot.

"We are helpless. Almost all the properties here are owned by the Government," says Sukhen Sarkar, the CPI (M) zonal secretary of Durgapur-2 Assembly constituency. Not complaining, yet the residents of the city feels left out of the election fever. "We are yet to know the names of all contestants," says one.

— Sunny Sebastian, Anita Joshua, Pratim Ranjan Bose

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