The real candidate in fray: Siliguri model

Election officials check EVMs in Asansol on Friday.Picture-Santosh Kumar Mandal

TT, Oct. 2: The Trinamul Congress appears stronger than its opponents in tomorrow's elections to the civic bodies in Bidhannagar, Asansol and Howrah's Bally while the Left seems to have the edge in the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad.

But the most interesting aspect of the polls is the fact that the Left, Congress and the BJP have decided to coordinate during the polls to the Greater Asansol Municipal Corporation and the Left and the Congress will do the same in Bidhannagar and Siliguri.

"The Siliguri model (that had seen the Left and the Congress coordinate during the municipal corporation elections earlier this year) had proved effective. This time, there will be resistance in all places. We have to see whether we can prevent Trinamul from looting votes," CPM MP Mohammad Salim said.

The Left and the Congress have formed a citizen's forum in Salt Lake to ensure free and fair elections. In Asansol, the Left, Congress and the BJP have decided on "ground-level coordination" at the request of local MP and Union minister Babul Supriyo.

Ahead of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation elections, CPM leader Asok Bhattacharya had worked in tandem with the Congress to ensure that Trinamul activists did not get a free run. With the Left emerging victorious, the experiment seemed successful and the "Siliguri model" has entered Bengal's political lexicon.

The results of the bypolls to the 16 seats of the erstwhile Bally municipality will have no impact on the Howrah Municipal Corporation board as Trinamul is in the majority with 46 of the 50 seats. The municipality has been merged with the corporation.

Trinamul sources said the party had a "fool-proof plan" for tomorrow. Panihati MLA and Trinamul's North 24-Parganas observer Nirmal Ghosh today lodged an FIR against CPM district secretary Gautam Deb for allegedly making "inflammatory" statements. The sources said the move was aimed at countering attempts by the Left to mobilise cadres during the elections tomorrow.

Last night, Deb's son Saptarshi was assaulted by 12 bike-borne youths in Salt Lake. A group of CPM supporters were attacked this afternoon at Baisakhi in the township.

According to the Trinamul sources, for the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation polls, the party has told MLAs, civic chairpersons and councillors from Dum Dum, Barrackpore and Habra to "monitor" the process. The sources said Naihati MLA Partha Bhowmik would "keep a watch" on wards 1 to 7, which fall in the Rajarhat-Gopalpur area.

For the Greater Asansol Municipal Corporation elections, Trinamul has asked Birbhum unit chief Anubrata Mondal to oversee the poll process in Jamuria, the only place in the civic area where the CPM is in a position to challenge the ruling party.

Raniganj MLA Mohammad Sohrab Ali, convicted in a railway scrap theft case, will oversee electioneering in Burnpur and Asansol. Bankura zilla parishad chairman Arup Chakraborty has been told to marshal his forces in Raniganj.

The Left is in a strong position in the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad elections, riding on the success of the municipal corporation victory. Since the win, the CPM has strengthened its organisation in Siliguri. After the exit of MLAs Harka Bahadur Chhetri and Trilok Dewan from the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the hill party is determined to get back at Trinamul, which is suspected to have worked behind the scenes to ensure the resignation of Chhetri.

Trinamul has not managed to make much headway in the tea gardens that fall under the mahakuma parishad's jurisdiction and has around 70,000 voters.

State election commissioner S.R. Upadhaya said the panel was trying its best to ensure free, fair and peaceful polls despite the unavailability of central forces. He said jawans of the Eastern Frontier Rifles and the RAF were being utilised for area domination, route marches and other confidence-building measures. During polling, he said, they would be used in close coordination with the armed police deployed in every voting centre.