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Horses, mules & boats make up election machinery in Bengal

Indrani Dutta

KOLKATA, May 9

HORSES, mules and boats would be pressed into service to reach men and materials to the far-flung polling stations in West Bengal where the elections to the State Assembly is set to be held on Thursday.

The Himalayas in the north and the Sundarbans in the south pose a challenge to the authorities during the election process as basic infrastructure facilities remain a dream, in many places in these two areas in the districts of Darjeeling and the South 2 4 Parganas.

To reach the Tangta Primary School in Kalimpong constituency, a two-day travel is involved. The polling officials -- mostly drawn from the various Government departments have to rough it out -- with a eight-km trek on hilly terrains in the final leg. Hor ses and mules carry the polling materials.

Four candidates are in the race for this Assembly seat. All are residents with their party loyalties resting with BJP, CPI and GNLF. One is an Independent.

In the Sundarbans, the home of the Royal Bengal Tiger, often boats are the only form of travel between the many islands that dot this area. Here the polling personnel, sailing down the river -- as it finds its course through the thick forests and mangrov e swamps -- are on a constant vigil.

If at all they sleep during their journey, it is only by turns -- as they watch out for `miscreants' of the four-legged variety, known also for its swimming prowess!

However in the State's first Assembly polls in the new millennium, some 21st century gizmos too find use along with ancient modes of transport. This is the first time that polling in all the 61,000 booths would be conducted with electronic voting machine s (EVMs).

Candidates have spent much time in tutoring their electorate (total size 4.86 crore), about how to use EVMs, assuring them that the machines do not give `shocks' as some feared.

The 2001 Assembly elections is also the first time when a candidate, a technology-savvy CPI (M) minister tried to woo a niche section by `campaigning' on the Internet.

In the overall State scenario, two political forces are slogging it out for the race to the seat of powers in a State which has established a record in Left rule, sending back the same man as a Chief Minister a record five terms!

Mr Jyoti Basu is no longer in the running as a candidate (having handed over his constituency to his former poll agent), but the strict party disciplinarian that he is, he has not let the burden of his eighty plus years, to prevent his participation in electioneering.

Crisscrossing the State, he has campaigned for most of the 211 candidates that his party, the CPI (M), has fielded while also addressing rallies in support of the Left allies.

The All-India Trinamool Congress (AITC) led by Ms Mamata Banerjee, has raised a `now-or-never' slogan with the Indian National Congress hoping to piggy-ride back to power on the strength of its alliance with the AITC.

INC has nominated 60 candidates. BJP which has been forced to go alone, for the first time after Ms Banerjee distanced herself from the party in the post-Tehelka period, has fielded 266 candidates for the 294 seat Assembly. But, it has little confidence in being anything but a third force.

Even as the main contenders hold their breath in one of the toughest polls that the State has seen in the last 24 years, a lone man's voice has caught some attention.

He is Dr Moloyendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury. An alumni of Presidency College, Berlin School of Economics and an ex-professor of IIM-Bangalore, Dr Roy Chowdhury has floated the Bharatiya Manabata Bikash Party and is contesting the Midnapore parliamentary se at which fell vacant after the death of Indrajit Gupta. His poll promises are many -- including the uplift of not only his own nation but also all the backward countries of the world!