During his long stint as Member of Parliament, CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharya was known as a fiery speaker who relentlessly pursued the cause of the people of his constituency바카라the backward district of Bankura in West Bengal바카라demanding, and often extracting, benefits for the tribal people of that region from the Centre. Away from the cut-and-thrust of national politics, Acharya is soft-spoken and polite, his words touched by a disarming candour. During an interview to Outlook before the 2011 assembly polls, when his party was in power, he replied to a question about 바카라rigging바카라바카라the control of polling booths by musclemen, usually from the incumbent party, of which his own 34-year-long government had often been accused. He stated that he would rather lose than stay in power by dishonest means. He lost to the Trinamool Congress candidate that year.
Just Pass The Wine, Comrades
The Left made a law that grossly undermined Bengal바카라s state election commission. As Trinamool unleashes pre-poll violence, an old tool comes in handy.
Seven years later, the 75-year-old veteran is languishing in a hospital bed. He was attacked by thugs associated allegedly with the Trinamool. They were trying to prevent him from entering the district magistrate바카라s office to help his comrades file nomination papers for the upcoming panchayat elections. It came in the middle of a shrill, rising tide of protests by the BJP and the Left against TMC violence over the polls. The road to 바카라capturing booths바카라 starts with the nomination process itself.
It has been an open secret that in Bengal, elections have been far from 바카라free and fair바카라. Political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty observers, 바카라In West Bengal, once a political party gains power, there are systems in place바카라legal and not-so-legal바카라which keeps them ensconced.바카라
Not only did 바카라scientific rigging바카라바카라an elaborate process, spanning several stages, which ensured real voters did not exercise their franchise바카라emerge during Left Front바카라s rule, but the government, which dominated the state legislature, also brought in legislation that helped 바카라legalise바카라 its brutal area domination.
According to experts, the West Bengal State Election Commission Act of 1994 reduced the state elections (local body polls, including the three-tier panchayat polls) monitoring body to a toothless 바카라instruction follower바카라 of the government. Chakraborty explains, 바카라Nowhere else in India is the state election commission (SEC) reduced to a mere 바카라puppet바카라 in the hands of the state government.바카라 Even if such laws exist in other states, say experts, nowhere is it as abused as in West Bengal.
The 1994 Act bestows the state with the power to decide on/accept or reject polling dates of local body elections. Furthermore, the very reason for the existence of and the appointment of the SEC is stated, according to the law, to be a discretion of the state government. Section 3.1 states, 바카라With effect from such date as the state government may by notification, appoint, there shall be a commision, to be called the West Bengal State Election Commission.바카라 Not surprisingly, officials of such a body would owe their allegiance to the state government.
The controversial legislation, says Chakraborty, was enacted when the Left was in its 17th year in office. 바카라Uninterrupted power made it feel invincible,바카라 he says. 바카라It felt it didn바카라t really need to 바카라fight바카라 for power any longer. Practically, every institution belonged to them바카라whether it was the bureaucracy or the police. It was not difficult for them to 바카라manage바카라 the polling process. Muscle power on the ground came from criminals바카라read 바카라cadres바카라바카라who were given protection from any punitive action. The inevitable system of quid pro quo this spawned hugely undermined the maintenance of law and order in Bengal, but ensured that the status quo remained.바카라 Chakraborty adds, 바카라It vests so much power in the state government that local elections, instead of being controlled by a neutral authority, become a prerogative of state machinery. This is obviously dangerous for the democratic process바카라.
Section 3 of the Act further states, 바카라Subject to the direction and control of the State Election Commissioner, the district panchayat election officer shall appoint such number of officers of the state government to be the assitant panchayat electoral registration officer and assistant panchayat returning officer.바카라 In other words, key personnel of the state election commission, who are supposed to be objective monitors, are expected to owe their allegiance to the state government, or one of the leading contestants.
Section 8 states, 바카라The State Government shall, in consultation with the Commission...fix the date or dates on which, the hours during which, the poll will be taken.바카라
The law, framed and used by the Left during their rule, is now being used by the Trinamool to their advantage. Currently, opposition parties have demanded that Central forces be sent to man the booths during the Panchayat polls. The BJP has even filed a petition in the Supreme Court to that effect. Predictably, the state government has rejected the idea, as they are well within their right to do so vis-a-vis local body elections. Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, where the Election Commission of India has the final say on matters of security, are a different matter.
The State Election Commission, powerless to go against the state government, has been dithering. According to some opposition leaders, however, senior SEC officials have privately expressed his desire to endorse the support for Central forces to contain and pre-empt poll-related violence, though his stance has not been unequivocal.
In the meantime, parts of West Bengal바카라especially Bankura, Birbhum, Purulia, Dinajpur, Midnapur, Murshidabad and South 24 Parganas districts바카라have reported largescale violence related to the filing of nominations. Bengal바카라s traditional poll violence is out in the open, with assailants brazenly brandishing FIRearms, knives and bombs, and unabashedly roughing up opponents for no other 바카라crime바카라 than that they had gone to file their nominations. In case after case, opposition politicians were dragged out of offices of district administrators and mercilessly slapped, kicked, punched, even stabbed. The police watched as mute spectators.
The bloodshed is just an indication that 바카라scientific rigging바카라 in West Bengal has mutated since its days during the Left. 바카라Rigging바카라 has evolved from being 바카라booth capturing바카라 or 바카라booth-jamming바카라, when ruling party goons intimidated polling officers and prevented voters from registering their own votes. It has passed through the stage when cadres went from door to door in villages, warning voters that they would be severely punished if they dared to go out to vote. Those who dared still were beaten up, even killed. It has even transcended the level when rival candidates were forced to withdraw their candidatures or face humiliation, even murder. Now, in addition to all that, 바카라action바카라 is taken in the nascent stage itself, before nominations could be filed, so that hundreds of seats go uncontested. However, it has to be mentioned that in Bengal바카라s panchayat elections, the category of 바카라unopposed candidates바카라 have been a rising trend. In 2008, 5.57 per cent of candidates won uncontested; in 2013, the number rose to 10.66 per cent. Under the Trinamool바카라s relentless pressure, the numbers might reach a new high this year. The TMC바카라s exertions bore immediate fruit too. As per reports, their candidates were slated to be 바카라elected unopposed바카라 from 41 out of 42 seats in the Birbhum Zilla Parishad, and 14 of 19 panchayat samitis in the district. The same was the case across swathes of Murshidabad district.
In the meantime, to stand up to the menace, the state바카라s opposition, namely BJP, the Left and the Congress, have decided to unite, not as poll partners, but to form groups for the collection and submission of nomination forms. Even this has faced obstacles, with reports that the state police has stopped delegations of opposition politicians on some pretext or other and delayed the filing of nominations till it was too late. Though the police have denied such charges, all three parties have cried foul, pointing out that many of their candidates couldn바카라t submit nomination forms. They have filed petitions in courts for intervention and asked for an extension of the deadline. At first, their request was granted. On April 9, the state EC extended the final date for filing nominations by one day, to April 10. Then, on April 10 itself, they reversed their decision and stuck to the original April 9 deadline after a petition from the TMC. For the opposition, it was yet another sign of the SEC바카라s complete lack of autonomy.
Opposition parties have also urged the state election commissioner to follow the precedent set by former election commissioner Mira Pandey, who had gone to court over the Trinamool government바카라s refusal to allow central forces to man booths during the 2013 panchayat elections.
바카라It is completely undemocratic that TMC is talking about an 바카라opposition-free바카라 election,바카라 says a Left leader, referring to a comment by a Trinamool leader. 바카라They have no respect for the neutrality of the state EC.바카라 Countering the charges, TMC points out that the 바카라complaints about the state commission바카라s role should be reviewed from the perspective of the law that was formulated during the CPI(M) rule.바카라 TMC leader Kalyan Banerjee says, 바카라The BJP has already filed many nominations, which shows the charges are completely baseless.바카라
Analysts observe how the CPI(M)바카라s own child, the State Election Commission Act, 1994, has returned to bite it. Among its victims are true believers in 바카라free and fair바카라 polls, like CPI(M)바카라s Basudeb Acharya.
By Dola Mitra in Calcutta