The Hindu : Front Page : Where Election Commission makes its presence felt

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 29, 2007
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Where Election Commission makes its presence felt

Atiq Khan

"Silent rigging is a thing of the past; voters now feel free to exercise franchise in favour of candidates of their choice."

"Voters feel free to exercise their franchise" Clout dented by CPMF presence in booths

— Photo: Subir Roy

UNDER THE SCANNER: Uttar Pradesh Food and Civil Supplies Minister and Independent candidate Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya coming out of a polling booth after voting at Mauli in Kunda on Saturday.

KUNDA (PRATAPGARH): Until the Election Commission cracked the whip, the poll in this Assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh was considered a cakewalk for its strongman and Food Minister, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya.

Unlike in the past, Mr. Singh, who is contesting as a Samajwadi Party-supported Independent, not only canvassed votes but was also seen arguing on Saturday with a presiding officer, asking him allow voters to exercise their franchise accepting their ration cards as an alternative identification document.

Kunda is among the 57 constituencies, which went to the polls in the fifth phase of the Assembly elections (election in Khaga in Fatehpur district has been countermanded following the death of the Congress candidate).

His word was law

Mr. Singh has had many a brush with his opponents and the ruling establishment. During the Mayawati regime, he faced action under the Prevention of Terrorist Act and was in jail until the present Chief Minister Mulayam Singh withdrew the cases against him. His rivalry with Congress Legislature Party leader and MLA from Rampur Khas (in Pratapgarh district) Pramod Tiwari is legend. In short, Raja Bhaiyya's word was law in Kunda.

But his clout seems to have been dented by the Election Commission's dictates and the presence of Central Para Military Force (CPMF) personnel in polling booths. At Ghayaspur Pure Parsan, his supporters complained that the presiding officer of booths 182 and 183 turned away around 100 villagers who produced their ration cards. This in spite of the officer, an employee of the State Education Department, being shown a copy of the EC directive listing 14 acceptable documents in the absence of the elector's photo identify card.

Compared to the 2002 elections, there was a perceptible change in voting in this essentially rural constituency. Said a government employee from Tilauri village, who refused to be identified: "Earlier voters were not required to come to the booths as their votes were already cast, but thanks to the Election Commission and the CPMF, silent rigging has become passe. The voters now feel free to exercise their franchise in favour of the candidates of their choice."

A retired schoolteacher and former journalist, B.P. Srivastava, who came to cast his vote at the Saryu Prasad Intermediate College polling centre at Kunda town, agreed that "things" had changed since the last elections.

Even as Mr. Singh, surrounded by his security men, sped across the villages meeting people, taking stock of the situation and taking time off to cast his vote at his Benti village, his father Raja Uday Pratap Singh of Bhadri kept off the election scene. He was also arrested under the POTA during the Mayawati regime.

The sitting MLA is pitted against Shiv Prakash Mishra "Senani" of the Bahujan Samaj Party, Prakash Singh of the Apna Dal and Kunwar Amresh Singh of the Congress.

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