Round The States

New Delhi, 14 November 2013

Historic Voting In Chhattisgarh

PEOPLE THUMB NOSE AT NAXALS

By Insaf

Finally some good news from Maoists-infested Chhattisgarh. Cocking a snook at the Naxals, 67 per cent of the electorate voted in “Red districts” Bastar and Rajnandgaon in the first phase of Assembly elections. This is not all. In comparison to the 2008 polls, the scale of violence was miniscule thanks to over one lakh policemen manning eight of the country’s 26 severely Maoists-hit districts along-with 2700 CCTV cameras aiding them, resulting in only one CRPF soldier’s death in Dantewada and five IED explosions.  Importantly, it was also the first time that some of India’s most deprived and poor voters got the right to reject all candidates by pressing the none of the above (NOTA) button on the electronic voting machines. It remains to be seen if this historic poll success leads to a decrease in Maoists terrorism in Chhattisgarh.

Sops For SC/STs

In election season, the Congress besides dolling out freebies, is now openly wooing the SC/STs to bring them into its fold. It has hit on a nouvelle idea to amend the Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act whereby mere knowledge of the SC/ST status of the victim is sufficient to establish guilt. The primary change in the Act is that if the perpetrator knows that the person he has targeted belongs to a tribe or caste is reason enough to make him guilty. Specially against the backdrop that most often in a fight between two upper caste persons SC or STs are used as pawns between the warring duo. Notably, even as the NCP’s Pawar and RLD’s Ajit Singh opposed this amendment, the Congress underscored that all States had concurred to this change. Among the listed atrocities are: preventing SC/STs from filing election nomination or forcing them to withdraw, social-economic boycott, preventing them from entering a place of worship and using common properties like tubewells etc. Also, the amendments provide for dedicated courts and special public prosecutors with the rider that the trials have to be completed in two months from filing the charge sheet. Congress has its fingers crossed that the SC/STs would reciprocate by voting of it.

Bihar Fund Transfer Racket

A new Bihari style ponzi scam has surfaced in the State’s Lakhisarai district. Namely the illegal fund transfer racket which encompasses Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The modus operandi is simple. Hundreds of Hindu & Muslim youths are recruited to open dubious bank accounts which are then used to carry out large monetary transactions via ATM withdrawals and RTGS or National Electronic Fund Transfer by offering them abate of 10 to 20 per cent of the transactions. Shockingly, in less than two months already, the Police have unearthed transactions of over Rs. 1.5 crore through 35 bank accounts.  But more worrisome is that the operation is being used for terror funding. The arrest of a woman kingpin points to ISI links as Pakistani numbers had been found in the phones of the four accused alongwith their Pakistan-based controller code named Ibrahim. With the operations cutting across north east and southern States the police and IB have their hands full.

Tussle Over Hyderabad

The vexatious Telangana imbroglio continues with regional parties and a deeply divided Congress against making Hyderabad the joint Capital of the two States. Interestingly, while TRS, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and the CPI plumed that Hyderabad should only be the interim Capital, the BJP remains silent while the Congress has floated a balloon of making Hyderabad a Union Territory with the Centre controlling law and order. Predictably, both the TRS and sections of the Congress have vociferously opposed this while the AIMIM has suggested setting up of a coordination committee to act as a buffer between the two State Governments. Clearly the creation of Telangana remains a pipedream.

Sangma Wild Card In Rajasthan

In Delhi even as debutant Arvind Kerjiwal’s Aam Aadmi Party is giving both the ruling Congress and BJP a run for its money, in Rajasthan North-East Purno Sangma’s National Peoples Party has emerged as the wild card. It has fielded an impressive 155 candidates in the 200 seats Assembly. Whether Sangma will be able to repeat a Mayawati whose BSP won six seats in the 2008 State elections is a question mark but it is clear that his candidates  are likely to cut in to the votes of both the BJP and Congress especially in 35 constituencies. Either which way Sangma’s Party could play spoilsport and have a nuisance value. It is a moot point if the NPP is able to shake the desert State’s largely by-polar polity. 

Church Calls Shots In Mizoram

Mizoram’s election process has a divine edict about it. Whereby the Church has push the Election Commission to reschedule polling and counting dates to accommodate the Presbyterian Church’s five-day Synod. Notwithstanding the State’s Chief Electoral Officer objections, counting was postponed to Monday 9 December as Sunday is meant for prayers. Worse, the clergy played virtual Election Commission by issuing a four-page list of dos and don’ts for candidates and voters. Besides propagating honesty and harmony the edict averred that voters who drink or have extra marital sex should refrain from exercising their votes. Pertinently, with nearly 70 per cent of Mizos following the Presbyterian Church all Parties have complied with the Church diktat as it is older than the Government in the State. Perhaps the only State in the country where the Church is a way of life for the Christian-dominated Mizos.

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)