New Delhi, March 02: The Election Commission has announced a staggered, six-phase schedule for Bengal’s high-voltage assembly elections, which will begin on April 18 in the north and end on May 10 in the Maoist-infested forest constituencies West Midnapore.
The city will go to polls during the third phase, on April 27, along with the two suburban districts of North and South 24 Parganas.
Chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi announced the election schedules for five states on Tuesday, two of which Bengal and Tamil Nadu can heavily influence the coalition mathematics at the Centre. Unlike Bengal, elections will be held over a single phase in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala and over two phases in Assam (see graph). Counting of votes in all the five states will take place on May 13.
Bengal, a state that has never voted for change for the last 34 years since 1977, was on the Election Commission’s radar months before the poll dates were announced, both for the Maoist insurgency and political violence fomented by the parties.
In fact, voters in their early forties have never seen a state government other than that led by the Left Front a rare feature in parliamentary democracy that can only have a parallel with the erstwhile communist regimes of eastern Europe.
Change was in the air during the 2001 assembly elections, but Trinamool Congress, the main opposition party, couldn’t make a dent in the Left fortress then. The ruling Left Front could contain the clamour for change by replacing Jyoti Basu, the longest-serving chief minister ever, with Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
Breaking away from the past, Bhattacharjee went for big-ticket investments and played the development card to lure the youth. The dream touched hearts and the Left Front romped home with 235 seats in the 2006 Assembly elections.
The tide began to turn in 2007, first in Singur and then Nandigram, with vast sections of the rural poor switching loyalties. Mamata Banerjee capitalized on the rising dissent and her party grabbed maximum panchayat seats in 2008. That was the beginning. The Trinamool curve maintained its lofty levels in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, and the municipal polls last year. The CPM faces a stiff challenge this time.
For political commentators and the common man, it’s fingers crossed in this break-or-make polls. Clashes and violence have been regular in poll-bound Bengal since political rivals sensed the winds of change in 2008. Considering the “ground realities”, the EC has gone for a six-phase poll and has under it 100 companies of paramilitary forces other than those deployed in the trouble-torn districts. Quraishi also announced on Tuesday the model code of conduct would come into force with his announcement.
Starting Wednesday, all posters, hoardings of political parties or the state government and cut-outs of political leaders attached to state properties, have to be removed. No government advertisements, or wall graffiti is permitted.
–Agencies–