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North East : Assembly polls : EC gets tough to ensure free and fair counting

	April 24, 2006

As the fate of political bigwigs lies sealed in ballot boxes, the Election Commission has cracked the whip on the State Government once again. It has directed Dispur to screen all representatives of different political parties and candidates who have applied for passes to work as counting agents. The aim is to ensure free and fair counting.



Counting of votes in 126 Assembly constituencies in the state will be held on May 11 at 47 counting centres across Assam.

Assam Chief Electoral Officer J.P. Prakash has conveyed the commission’s directive to all Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police.



Stating this at a closed-door official meeting at Silchar last week, Prakash said this step was aimed at disqualifying agents with criminal antecedents or those against whom criminal cases have been registered earlier.



He said this was part of measures to achieve transparency in voting as well as counting procedures in the state.



At the counting centres across the state, the CRPF has been entrusted with the task of maintaining vigil in and around the strongrooms, where the used electronic voting machines (EVMs) are being kept. The CRPF was assigned this task with effect from last week, replacing Assam police.



The Commission is hopeful that results for all the 126 Assembly seats would be announced by the evening of May 11. Prakash said he had summoned all district returning officers in the state for a last-minute meeting at his office in Dispur on April 30.





Gogoi not set on post



Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has countered the brouhaha over his chances of retaining the hot seat by declaring that he was not a contender and would not go out of his way to come back into the frame.



Gogoi, who is being blamed for the minorities’ perceived disenchantment with the Congress, said in Guwahati on April 18 that he was not comfortable with the “politics of manoeuvring”.



“I have never lobbied with anybody for any post and I will not do it this time. I did not learn the art of manoeuvring and I never will... Only once in my life, in 1971, did I approach some leaders for a nomination for a parliamentary seat.”



Gogoi claimed all other responsibilities - as PCC president, Union minister and then Chief Minister - came to him without having to move his little finger.



Assuming that the Congress will get a second consecutive term in Dispur, hectic lobbying has begun for the chief ministership. Unlike the AGP, the ruling party did not project anybody as a candidate for the chief ministership before the elections, leaving the post open for “bidding”.



Describing himself as a “true soldier” of the Congress, Gogoi said he would not shy away from any responsibility the party gives him.



Gogoi also reiterated his opposition to the idea of the Congress accepting any help from the AUDF to form the next government. PCC president Bhubaneswar Kalita said recently that the nascent party was “not untouchable”.



“Bhubaneswar is entitled to his opinions, just as I am. Ultimately, it is the high command that will decide. But as far as my opinion is concerned, I am against accepting the AUDF’s support. We will not require their support and the election results will prove that,” he added.





Osmani dares Assam PCC



Meanwhile, dissident Congress leader Abul Fazal Golam Osmani on April 20 questioned the Assam PCC’s power to arbitrate whether he had committed any breach of party discipline during the recent Assembly polls.



The octogenarian, who represents Assam’s Barpeta seat in the Lok Sabha, told reporters at his residence that only the party high command could sit in judgement on whether a member of Parliament had committed any anti-party activity. The state unit has no right to haul up an MP on disciplinary matters.



Osmani was reacting to Union Heavy Industries Minister and state Congress stalwart Sontosh Mohan Dev’s statement on April 10 that the party was mulling action against Osmani for his alleged anti-party activity.



Dev, who is the convener of the PCC disciplinary panel, had said he would order a probe into allegations of anti-party activities by Osmani during the Assembly election if Congress members filed formal complaints in this regard.





CPI eyes slice of power



The CPI on April 20 claimed that the party and its pre-poll allies would form the next government in Assam.



Towards this end, the allies would meet on April 28 to chalk out a common minimum programme to be released before the declaration of results on May 11, state CPI leader Promode Gogoi said. He said the CPM and its pre-poll allies - the AGP, the CPI(M), the Autonomous State Demand Committee (Holiram Terang), the Samajwadi Party and the Rabiram Narzary faction of the Bodoland People’s Progressive Front (BPPF) - would form the government as the ruling Congress would get around 40 seats.



“Besides, the Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) and the AGP (Pragatisheel) would come on board as they too are anti-Congress like us. The BPPF (Mohilary) has also indicated that it will go with whoever forms the next government. As things stand today, we are in a position to form the next government,” Gogoi said.