The Hindu : National / Elections 2004 : Poll-Pourri

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Monday, Apr 26, 2004

National

National - Elections 2004

Poll-Pourri

What's in a name?

If the number of political parties has anything to do with the health of a democracy, then Indian democracy must be truly vibrant. Apart from the six recognised national parties and 45 state parties, it has 702 `registered unrecognised parties'. The names of the parties have a bewildering variety. A sample. We have the Bharatiya Jan Berojgar Chhatra Dal (Indian People Unemployed Students' Party), the Bharatiya Mohabbat Party (Indian Love Party), Golden India Party, Life Peaceful Party, The Consumer Party of India (abbreviated, TCPI), and Viswa Maya Political Party. Manuvadi may be the most pejorative political expression for leaders such as the Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati. But one registered unrecognised party thinks the term is far from offensive. It's name? Manuvadi Party.

Rajasthan has seven Lok Sabha constituencies with a peculiar feature. Some of the polling booths in one district in these constituencies are situated in another district. This is because of the difficult terrain in parts of the desert State, but it often leads to confusion about jurisdiction. The State Government's Election Department has issued special instructions for administrative control, departure of polling parties and distribution of election material in these constituencies.

The Chief Electoral Officer, Lalit Kothari, says that District Collectors will mutually work out an arrangement on the issue of jurisdiction and for sending polling parties in these segments. The Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be brought to the district headquarters after polling is over. The arrangements for furniture, shade and water at the polling booths, maintenance of law and order and appointment of zonal magistrates will be done by the Collector of the district within whose boundaries the polling stations are situated.

Haunting issue

The `ghost' of Rajan, the engineering college student who met with a tragic end during the dark days of Emergency and who became a symbol of Emergency excesses in Kerala, seems to be haunting the Karunakaran family again. It was the habeus corpus petition filed by Rajan's father that resulted in the Kerala High Court passing adverse comments against K. Karunakaran, the State's Home Minister during the Emergency. Mr. Karunakaran had to relinquish the Chief Minister's office one month after assuming power. Even after a lapse of 27 years, the name of Rajan refuses to go away from Kerala's political scene. This time it was Mr. Karunakaran's daughter, Padmaja Venugopal, who is contesting the Mukundapuram Lok Sabha constituency, who created the storm. Her remarks during a televised debate on a local channel drew widespread condemnation, forcing her to withdraw them after she received a lawyer's notice filed on behalf of Rajan's family. The question doing the rounds in Mukundapuram is whether Ms. Venugopal will pay for this.

- Arunkumar Bhatt, Mohammed Iqbal, K. Venkiteswaran

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