Darjeeling election scene is complex indeed

The hills are thus likely to witness a four-cornered contest; the contenders for the honour being sitting M. P.Raju Bista of the BJP, Gopal Lama of the Trinamool Congress, Munish Tamang of the Congress and the independent candidate B. P. Bajgain. 

Editorial, EOI, 4 April 2024 : With all the major political parties in contention in the hills having nominated their candidates for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat and only a day left for the filing of nominations, the battle lines are now drawn for the hill seat. The CPI (M) is not likely to nominate one, because of its ill-defined electoral alliance with the Congress. One remarkable feature of the ensuing polls is that none of the regional parties in the hills has filed any nomination; only one independent candidate, a rebel BJP, is in the fray. 

The hills are thus likely to witness a four-cornered contest; the contenders for the honour being sitting M. P.Raju Bista of the BJP, Gopal Lama of the Trinamool Congress, Munish Tamang of the Congress and the independent candidate B. P. Bajgain. 

The array of hill parties supporting the candidates is also clear. The Gorkha National Liberation Front and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha are supporting the BJP. The Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha is in an alliance with the Trinamool and the Hamro Party is now with the Congress. While the support of the regional parties will be crucial for all the contenders for the honour, it can possibly be said that the political initiative in the hills is slowly passing from the regional to the national arena. 

While there are four contestants in the fray, the electoral battle will be fought on the question if settling the issue of the identity of the Gorkha community is themain question or if the development of the hills should be of more immediate priority. In this, the stands of the respective hill parties are quite clear. 

The BGPM thinks economic development of the hills should get the priority while for GJM, the GNLF and the HP, the identity issue is the main. Here, however, there is a difference in emphasis among the last three hill parties mentioned. While for the GJM and the HP a separate state of Gorkhaland is the first choice, for the GNLF the immediate priority is sixth schedule status for the hill council. 

The GJM would not accept the sixth schedule, however, till the 11 left-out Gorkha communities are included in the list of scheduled tribes. For the independent candidate, Gorkhaland is sacrosanct. Thus, logically speaking all those voters with whom economic development is the first priority should support the Trinamool candidate, while there may be a three-day division in votes in the other camp. But electoral logic does not always tally with textbook logic and for all those yearning for peace and development may also like to have their identity issue settled once for all. 

Here the Trinamool candidate will be at a disadvantage as Kolkata may not yield to any concession to the hills. Those who will like the identity issue to be settled first have a difficult choice. The track record of the Congress is better here, having offered to the hills two autonomous councils, though without constitutional guarantee, while the BJP has nothing to show in this regard. 

But the BJP is in a better position to form the next government at the Centre and may be in a better position to deliver. Besides, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also given a definite assurance. 

 The independent candidate may also draw a share of votes of people unhappy with national parties. Besides the hill assembly segments of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong, the Darjeeling Lok Seat has four assembly segments in the plains where the population is mixed. Trinamool has an advantage here, but three of the four assembly segments have BJP MLAs. The overall picture of the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat is complex indeed.

Courtesy & source: http://echoofindia.com/ePaper/index.aspx?page=VEVPSQ==