Repoll today in 11 of 2420 booths - Chief interim or intimidated, range same

Meghdeep Bhattacharyya and Amit Ukil, TT, Calcutta, Oct. 8: Repolling will be held on Friday in 11 of the 2,420 booths in two corporations where votes were cast five days ago and the counting will be carried out on Saturday, temporary state election commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay has announced.

The number of booths chosen for the repolling in Bidhannagar and Asansol falls within the range signalled by S.R. Upadhaya on Monday evening soon after four Trinamul leaders harangued him for four hours at the state election commissioner's office. Unable to bear the pressure, Upadhaya had resigned the next day, following which Bandyopadhyay was para-dropped into the poll chief's chair as an interim measure.

The repolls will be held in nine booths in Bidhannagar and two in Asansol. No repoll has been ordered in Bally.

The Bidhannagar break-up makes it clear that voters in only nine of the 438 booths in Salt Lake, which was invaded by outsiders and subjected to electoral fraud and violence, will get a chance to re-cast their votes.

Upadhaya, after meeting the Trinamul leaders, had hinted at the possibility of repolls in eight to 10 booths in Salt Lake, two to three in Bally and three to four in Asansol.

The Opposition, which had demanded a repoll in all the booths in Bidhannagar, has decided to boycott tomorrow's exercise as it will be limited to a handful of booths.

Bandyopadhyay, the temporary poll chief, declared that "booth capture" did take place and voters were "deprived". The assertion and the directive for repolls were cited by Trinamul leaders as evidence of his impartiality.

However, veteran officials pointed out that Bandyopadhyay could not have entirely dismissed Upadhaya's assessment that had already drawn charges of dilution under political pressure.

With the high court set to take up a petition questioning the propriety of Bandyopadhyay's appointment, any sign of blatant bias would have poured fuel into the fire, they said. "If he found merit in Upadhaya's call for repoll in a few booths, he had little option other than going by that assessment," said a source this evening.

According to a Trinamul leader, "the high command" was not "entirely displeased" as countermanding or repolls in a large number of booths - the possibility of which had loomed after Upadhaya deferred counting on Sunday - has been averted.

Bandyopadhyay took pains to explain the screening process, on the basis of which the repoll booths were chosen.

"We distinguished between violence on the streets and intra-booth vitiation of the process of election. Unless violence on the streets palpably affects the poll process inside the booth, repolls cannot be ordered," he said. "There are clear guidelines and set parameters that we follow to arrive at these inferences."

Asked about the nature of vitiation in the 11 booths picked out for the repoll, Bandyopadhyay said it was unanimously decided that all these booths had been captured during polling hours.

"In a broad and loose manner, I can tell you that booth capture took place in all these booths. In all these booths, a significant number of voters appear to have been deprived of their voting rights," he said.

According to Nabanna sources, presiding officers from 430 of the 438 Salt Lake booths had not reported any poll vitiation inside. Trinamul has been citing this while challenging Upadhaya.

In response to a question on such reporting, the temporary commissioner said: "Presiding officers, in some cases, have noted this (booth capture). Some have not.... But the decision to send these booths to repoll is unanimous now."

Bandyopadhyay said he spoke to home secretary Basudeb Banerjee who assured him of preventing violence and untoward incidents during the repoll. "All the district magistrates have been specifically asked to prevent the entry of outsiders during polling hours," said Bandyopadhyay.

Before the announcement, Bandyopadhyay conducted a string of meetings with district magistrates, police chiefs and other officials. "We held a series of meetings and re-examined, re-analysed and re-scrutinised all the evidence, factoring in inputs from all stakeholders," he added.

Although Trinamul was publicly insisting that repoll in no booth was required, several leaders had said in private on Monday, soon after Upadhaya had dropped the hint of a limited repoll, that they would not be unhappy with the exercise in some seats.

The party's principal objective was to avert a larger repoll. "From what we have gathered, the booths where some of our poll managers had been most mischievous were left out of the repoll list," a Trinamul leader said.

LEFT LEGACY

• How is the Chief Election Commissioner of India chosen now?

The President appoints the CEC and two commissioners on the advice of the Prime Minister

• Can only IAS officers be appointed?

No. Qualification or minimum rank has not been prescribed. But by convention, bureaucrats who had served at the secretary level are appointed to the posts. Some of the former CECs like S.L. Shakdhar and Peri Sastri were not IAS officers. But a nominee to the poll panel can serve only till age 65

• Do they continue to be government officials?

No. This is the most important aspect. Former CEC V. Gopalaswami said: “When a person takes up an assignment in the Election Commission, he is automatically deemed to have resigned or retired from his parent department.” The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Conditions of Service) Act, 1991, is explicit on the issue: “A person who, immediately before the date of assuming office as the Chief Election Commissioner or an Election Commissioner was in service of Government, shall be deemed to have retired from service on the date on which he enters upon office as the Chief Election Commissioner or an Election Commissioner but his subsequent service as the Chief Election Commissioner or an Election Commissioner shall be reckoned as continuing approved service counting for pension in service to which he belonged.”

• What about the “temporary” state election commissioner in Bengal?

The Bengal law does not specifically bar the “temporary” chief from resuming his service in the government once his stint at the poll panel is over. This is the key point of contention that has fuelled fears of conflict of interest and absence of insulation while discharging responsibilities as election boss

• Why did the Bengal government include such a clause?

Good question. The state law, passed by the Left Front government of Jyoti Basu in 1994, is being compared to other acts of political vandalism associated with the comrades who are known for destroying institutions

• What about Kerala, Bengal’s communist cousin?

The southern state, considered a role model on local self-government, does not have provision for an interim election commissioner. The duties of a state election commissioner can be done only by a state election commissioner, not by any “temporary” commissioner, said a panchayat veteran in Kerala. So, the vacuum can be filled only by a fresh, full-term appointment

• And Tripura, the solitary island of communist power in India?

No, Tripura also does not have provision for a “temporary” election commissioner. But it has an additional state election commissioner who will hold charge till the new chief is chosen

• Any word from North Korea?

Not yet. But local polls are state-controlled in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Local elections were held there in July, when state media reported “99.97% voter participation”. “All participants took part in the elections with extraordinary enthusiasm to cement the revolutionary power...,” Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. If you are wondering what happened to the remaining 0.03 per cent, the KCNA provides the answer: only those who were out of the country were unable to vote.