Tag: Assam elections

  • In shadow of a pandemic: After Bihar, EC set for polls in four states and one UT

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Beating Covid fears, the Election Commission held assembly polls in Bihar, one of India’s most populous states, late last year and is now gearing up for a massive electoral exercise in four states and a union territory.

    The nationwide lockdown that began on March 25 last year brought life to a sudden halt.

    With the infection continuing its spread even after it was lifted, there were apprehensions that holding elections would be fraught with risk.

    However, the elections in Bihar were conducted safely over multiple phases in October and November last year with the poll panel putting strict Covid protocols in place.

    Armed with gloves, masks, face shields and sanitiser for all, the keenly watched Bihar election was the first full-fledged poll to be held in the pandemic with four crore of the more than seven crore voters exercising their franchise.

    “We were able to conduct a COVID-safe election with a voter turnout of 57.34 per cent, which was higher than the 56.8 per cent  turnout recorded during the previous election in 2015,” Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said recently.

    To ensure distancing norms, the Election Commission restricted the number of voters per polling station to 1,000 from 1,500.

    This led to an increase in the number of polling stations.

    Other than Bihar, the EC also conducted elections across several states for Rajya Sabha seats, and by-elections for nearly 60 legislative assembly constituencies.

    Now, campaigning is underway for assembly polls in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Karala and Puducherry.

    The process begins later this month.

    An estimated 18.68 crore voters will be eligible to cast their votes at 2.7 lakh polling stations for 824 assembly seats across the four states and one union territory.

    Once again, to ensure safety of voters, polling staff and security personnel, the Election Commission has procured lakhs of face shields, face masks, single use rubber gloves for polling and security personnel and ‘one hand’ single use polythene gloves for voters to press the EVM button and sign the register at the polling stations.

    While Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry will go for polls in a single phase, Assam will conduct elections in three phases and West Bengal in eight.

    In the 2016 polls, there were 77,000 polling stations in West Bengal, and 11,000 polling stations went to poll per phase.

    Due to distancing norms, the number of polling stations have gone up to 1.1 lakh.

    On an average, over 12,000 poling stations would go for polls in each of the eight phases.

    Some political parties had earlier urged the Election Commission to not hold elections amid the pandemic.

    In August last year, the poll panel had come out with broad guidelines to hold polls amid the coronavirus pandemic.

    When the campaigning was in full swing, it came out with an advisory for parties noting that Covid  norms and health protocols were not being followed.

    According to data made available by the Election Commission here and the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar, 156 cases were registered against “organisers” of rallies and meetings of various leaders and candidates for violating COVID-19 norms.

    Cases were registered against organisers as they had sought permission to hold rallies or meetings in which following health guidelines was mandatory, explained an official.

    Ahead of the three-phase elections in Bihar, the poll panel had made it clear that violation of COVID-19 guidelines during election period would be deemed a violation of Section 144 of the CrPC.

    Nearly 160 tonnes of biomedical waste in the form of gloves, face masks and empty sanitiser bottles used by polling personnel and voters was generated during the Bihar polls.

    Authorities also relied on an inexpensive but effective technology used to track EVMs to ensure that the waste reached public health centres for its onward journey to the incinerator.

  • BJP’s stand on CAA varies from state to state, claims Assam Congress

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: The Congress on Tuesday wondered why the BJPs manifesto for the Assam assembly election is silent on the issue of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and claimed that the stand of the saffron party on the controversial Act varies from state to state.

    The party in a statement also alleged that Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah sought to deny the existence of those people who lost their lives during the anti-CAA agitation in the state.

    “Their (BJP’s) stand on the CAA is ambiguous. In West Bengal, they say they want it. In Tamil Nadu, they do not want it and in Assam they are silent. But the Congress has only one stand. We oppose the CAA and will leave no stone unturned to nullify it,” it said.

    In the BJP’s manifesto for West Bengal, the party promised to clear the implementation of the CAA in the first cabinet meeting of the new government.

    The saffron party in Tamil Nadu has forged an alliance with the AIADMK which in its manifesto said that it will urge the Centre to scrap the contentious law.

    However, in the manifesto released by BJP president JP Nadda for Assam earlier in the day, there is no mention of the CAA.

    In the statement, the Congress wanted to know the reason behind the omission.

    Nadda told reporters that the CAA has been passed by Parliament and will be implemented “in time”.

    The objective of the CAA is to grant Indian citizenship to people of minority communities Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who had come to India till December 31, 2014 due to religious persecution in these countries.

    Assam, ruled by a BJP-led coalition, witnessed violent protests against the CAA in 2019 and five persons lost their lives.

    The protestors saw the law as a threat to their cultural identity and livelihood.

    Three rail stations, a post office, a bank, a bus terminus, shops, dozens of vehicles and many other public properties were set ablaze or damaged during the anti-CAA protests.

    The statement of the state Congress signed by its media department chairperson Bobbeeta Sharma also condemned Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s assertion in election rallies in the state on Monday that no protests were held in the state during the last five years.

    “He wants to simply obliterate the anti-CAA uprising that happened in Assam. He wants to deny the existence of those young boys who lost their lives in police firing. What can be more unfortunate for the people of Assam than this?” the statement read.

    The BJP also failed in giving the people of Assam a foolproof National Register of Citizens (NRC) though the party’s governments are there at the Centre and in the state, the Congress said.

    The NRC, a database of Indian citizens living in Assam which was updated under the supervision of the Supreme Court and published on August 31, 2019, excluded names of over 19 lakh of the 3.29 crore applicants.

    Almost all stakeholders and political parties criticised it as a faulty document, alleging exclusion of indigenous people and inclusion of illegal migrants.

    “The administration was under them, yet they could not give a proper NRC to people. Their (BJP’s) sincerity in solving the illegal migrants issue is questionable. What they could not do in the last five years, what guarantee is there that they will be able to do it in the next five years,” the Congress said.

    The party also described the BJPs claim that flood water of the Brahmaputra will be filled in ponds and reservoirs as “outlandish”.

    Referring to the BJP’s ‘Mission Brahmaputra’ mentioned in the manifesto, it said what the state government was doing during the last five years as dredging of the river was an ”old promise of the saffron party.

  • BJP’s Assam poll manifesto ensures inclusive growth of state: Jitendra Singh

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said the BJP’s manifesto for the Assam assembly polls focuses on inclusive growth of the state, its security, development and cultural identity.

    He also said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, consistent and diligent efforts were made to pull out Assam from the long nightmare of insurgency and violence into which previous Congress governments had thrown the state.

    “Now that development activities have been rolled out on a fast track, we are seeking a second term (in the state) to consolidate the gains of the last term and to embark on a quantum jump of growth,” said Singh, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office.

    He said that Assam is the gateway to the Northeast and therefore, it would play a leading role in the future growth of India.

    “BJP’s poll manifesto will ensure inclusive growth of Assam with focus on its security, development and cultural identity,” Singh told PTI.

    BJP president J P Nadda on Tuesday released the party’s manifesto for the assembly polls in Assam.

    Polling will be held in 47 seats in Assam on March 27 in the first phase, while 39 and 40 constituencies will go to polls on April 1 and April 6, respectively.

    Singh said BJP leaders are not seasonal campaigners like those in the Congress, who come here only during election time and go straight to tea gardens for a Bollywood type photo-shoot and pose as sympathisers of tea garden workers.

    “We have been here on the ground and among the people 24X7 for 365 days for the last seven years ever since Narendra Modi took over as prime minister”, he said.

    Singh, who is the party’s co-incharge for Assam, said the BJP constantly interacts with the common people and it even did so when it was not in power in the state.

    “We have consistently worked hard, day and night, to win the confidence of the people,” he said.

    “Even when we did not have our government in Assam, the BJP karyakartas would set up relief camps in times of flood or any other calamity”, he said, adding that “we have shared the concerns of the common people and also celebrated their joys”.

  • NRC correction, flood control, protection of rights find place in BJP’s poll manifesto for Assam

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: BJP national president J P Nadda on Tuesday released the party’s manifesto for Assam assembly polls, promising to protect the political rights of people through a delimitation exercise.

    The party also made ‘ten commitments’ in the manifesto — one of which is initiation of a process to “correct and reconcile” the entries made as part of the Supreme Court- mandated National Register of Citizens exercise, as it seeks to “protect genuine Indian citizens and exclude all illegal immigrants”.

    The manifesto underlined that the BJP, if voted to power, will provide free education to every child, make arrangements to control floods and ensure that the state achieves “self-sufficiency” when it comes to production of essential items.

    It further gave assurance that payments made to women under ‘Orundoi’ scheme will be increased to Rs 3,000 from the current Rs 830, and eligible residents would be empowered with land rights.

    Nadda, after releasing the document, said that Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be implemented in Assam when the time is right.

    Taking a dig at the Congress, he said, “The party had been claiming that it wouldn’t allow implementation of CAA, which is a central legislation.They are either ignorant or trying to fool the people of the state.” 

  • Priyanka and Nadda spar over right to serve people of Assam

    By Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: Election campaign in Assam is witnessing a war of words between the national-level leaders of BJP and Congress. On Monday in different parts of the state, BJP president JP Nadda and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of the grand old party took centrestage.

    Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of Congress duringelection rallies in different parts of Assamon Monday | PtiAddressing a rally at Tingkhong in Dibrugarh district, Nadda accused Congress of practising “politics of opportunism” and said Assam will head into “darkness” if the party is voted to power. “If you need darkness, then go with Congress. But if you need development, hold the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Nadda said. He accused Congress of neglecting Assam and the Northeast since Independence.

    “Because of Congress’s double standards, the wheels of development had totally stopped. It attacked the civilisation of Assam, sidelining the state’s culture. But, BJP brought development and protected Assam’s culture and language,” Nadda said. Attacking the Congress-AIUDF alliance, he said former CM Tarun Gogoi never allied with the Badruddin Ajmal-led party, but his son has now embraced the AIUDF.

    Priyanka, on the other hand,  alleged that BJP was functioning like a mafia and running syndicates. The Congress general secretary said that the saffron party in the state has two factions and both have betrayed the people of Assam.

    “In the Assam government, there is a Shakuni Mama-like leader and a Dhritarashtra. Both of them and BJP have betrayed the people of Assam. Dhritarashtra betrayed the six ethnic communities whom he had promised to get included in the Scheduled Tribes list. And Shakuni Mama runs a government that only cheats people.” She did not mention who she was referring to.

    “BJP has not been able to decide who will be their chief ministerial candidate. They are not able to respect their own chief minister and spell out the name. If there is no stability and unity in the party, then how will it bring stability to Assam and assure the people to give a stable government?” claimed the Congress leader.

  • Double-engine governments in Assam, Centre useless, corrupt: Tejashwi Yadav

    By PTI
    TINSUKIA: Senior RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Monday alleged that the “double- engine” governments run by the BJP at the Centre and in Assam are “useless” as they indulged in corruption spread hatred among people.

    Addressing his first election rally in Assam at Tinsukia, the former deputy chief minister of Bihar claimed that the saffron party practises the politics of hate.

    “Inflation is at its peak. BJP governments are there in Assam and at the Centre. That means it is a double-engine government. But it is useless. Everywhere corruption is taking place and they are creating enmity between brothers. Politics of hate is happening,” he said.

    The BJP has been saying that double-engine government (same party rule in Centre as well as state) ensures speedy development.

    Urging people to support the Congress-led Grand Alliance in Assam of which the RJD is a part, Yadav described the BJP as the “Badka Jhoota Party” (Biggest Lying Party).

    “I had said (during campaigning for Bihar assembly polls) that 10 lakh government jobs would be given on the first cabinet meeting.

    The BJP copied that and claimed they would provide 20 lakh jobs.

    “They formed the government by the back door. Now ask them where are the jobs? They cheated everyone,” he said.

    Yadav was here to campaign for RJD candidate Hira Devi Choudhury, who is contesting from Tinsukia, a constituency having a sizeable number of Hindi speaking people.

    He alleged that the mandate in the Bihar elections held in 2020 was changed and “the lantern (the RJDs symbol) should light in Assam”.

    In the election results for 243 assembly seats announced on November 10, the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan lost to the NDA.

    The RJD had emerged as the single largest party with 75 seats.

    He asked the people of Assam to remain alert during the election process alleging that “the BJP wants to win by hook or by crook”.

    Paying respect to former chief minister Tarun Gogoi who died in November last year, the RJD leader said the Congress had a long stint in Assam and it did a lot of work for the development of the state.

    “When the Congress government was here, there was peace everywhere and only development issues were discussed. Nowadays, only hatred is discussed. That is why please make a Congress-RJD government in Assam. Our alliance has promised five guarantees which will be implemented without fail,” he said.

    He said that if the Grand Alliance is voted to power, a law will be introduced to nullify the CAA, five lakh government jobs will be given, 200 units of electricity will be free for all, housewives will get Rs 2,000 per month and the minimum wage of tea garden workers will be raised to Rs 365.

    “The BJP had promised to increase the daily wage of tea workers, but they cheated them,” Yadav said.

  • Amit Shah returns to Guwahati by road following technical problem in helipcopter

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: The helicopter in which Union Home Minister Amit Shah was scheduled to travel from Udalguri to Guwahati developed a technical snag forcing him to take the road on Monday, party sources said here.

    Shah had addressed an election rally at Udalguri, the third during the day in Assam, and was informed about the snag before he boarded the flight.

    He later left by road for Guwahati, abround 70 km, where he was scheduled to address party workers in a closed door meeting.

    An Udalguri district official said that the snag was detected during a routine checkup before the VIP boarded the helicopter.

    Shah had arrived here in the afternoon and addressed rallies at Jonai, Majuli from where Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal was contesting and Udalguri in Bodoalnd Territorial Region (BTR).

  • Congress government in Assam will be run by state people; Delhi will not control it: Rajeev Shukla

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Senior Congress leader Rajeev Shukla on Sunday said that the government to be formed by the party in Assam after the assembly election will be run by and for the people of the state and will not be remote-controlled from Delhi.

    The BJP-led government in Assam has played with the emotions and fortunes of the tea garden workers for the last five years, he alleged while addressing a press conference in Guwahati.

    “The Congress government is going to be run by the people of Assam, for the people of Assam and not on the instructions of people from Delhi,” Shukla said.

    Describing the BJP as the “Chunaavi Jumla Party” (electoral fake promise party), he alleged that reneging on promises has become a hallmark of the saffron party.

    “Assam accounts for more than 50 per cent of India’s tea production. This feeling of pride brings responsibility to each and every one of us. Tea workers dedicate their lives to ensure that the best quality of Assam tea reaches the nook and corner of the world,” he said.

    “The Congress is committed to overall upliftment of the tea workers,” the former Union minister said.

    Shukla alleged that the state’s BJP-led government has reneged its promise of increasing the daily wage of tea workers who have been demanding a hike for the last five years.

    Before the 2016 assembly elections, the BJP had promised to increase their daily wage to Rs 351, he said.

    “They (the government) increased the wage by Rs 50 to Rs 217 without fulfilling the promise or legal backup. The Gauhati High Court put a stay on this move,” Shukla said.

    The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a blow to the tea garden workers, AICC spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said adding that the Congress shares their pain and promises to increase their daily wage to Rs 365.

    State Congress Media Department Chairperson Bobbeeta Sarma said that the party will explore constitutional and legal ways to grant ST status to Moran, Mattock, Sonowal, Tai Ahom, Sootea, Koch-Rajbongshi and the tea tribe communities in Assam keeping the status and rights of the existing ST communities intact.

  • Assam polls: Congress desperate, might resort to divide society, says Jitendra Singh

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: The Congress, which faces an imminent defeat in the Assam polls, has become desperate and might resort to politics to divide the society in the state but the BJP will never allow this, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Sunday.

    Referring to the grand alliance of opposition parties, including Congress, Left parties and AIUDF, formed for the three-phase state elections, he said the Congress’ leadership has thoroughly exposed itself by turning away from its ideological position by seeking the “support offered by an overtly communal outfit headed by Badruddin Ajmal”.

    The Ajmal headed All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) is considered to have a large base among Assam’s about 35 per cent Muslim population.

    “The BJP is a party with a consistent ideology of justice to all sections of society without appeasement. The Congress may have become desperate enough to resort to politics of dividing the society in Assam, but we shall never allow this to happen,” Singh, the minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office, told PTI.

    In the last seven years, because of the constant outreach of Prime Minister Narendra Narendra Modi and diligent efforts of Home Minister Amit Shah, “we have succeeded in restoring peace and harmony, and we shall not allow the Congress to undo this just for vote bank politics”, said Singh, who is also the BJP’s co-incharge for Assam.

    Polling will be held in 47 seats in Assam on March 27 in the first phase, while 39 and 40 constituencies will go to polls on April 1 and April 6 respectively.

    Addressing a poll rally at the Mangaldoi area late on Saturday night, Singh had accused the Congress of seeking alliances out of desperation as it faces imminent defeat in the elections.

    “Suddenly the Congress has decided to seek the support offered by an overtly communal outfit headed by Badruddin Ajmal,” the minister said.

    He claimed that it was the same Badruddin, whom till 2016, Congress’ senior leader and the then Assam chief minister late Tarun Gogoi had vehemently opposed being associated with in spite of suggestions from certain quarters.

    “So much so, when a media person once asked Gogoi about any possibility of an alliance with Badruddin Ajmal, Gogoi had retorted back angrily saying ‘Who is Badruddin?’, but unfortunately, today the same Badruddin has become the face and identity of the Congress in Assam,” Singh said.

    The grand alliance comprising Congress, AIUDF, Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM) and the RJD has been formed in Assam to contest the election to the 126-member assembly against the BJP-led NDA.

    BJP national general secretary and MP from Mangaldoi, Dilip Saikia, while addressing the rally, said it is remarkable how Jitendra Singh, who belonged to Jammu and Kashmir, had made the North East his second home and earned the respect and love of the local people.

    Singh, a Lok Sabha member from Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur, is also the minister of state for the Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER).

    He said, BJP will never allow Badruddin to play the politics of hatred and separatism as was done by some leaders in Kashmir and elsewhere.

  • Assam polls: Rahul Gandhi slams Modi govt for ‘rising’ unemployment

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday slammed the Narendra Modi government for “increasing” the problem of unemployment in the country. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi says about ‘Make in India’. But go to any part of the country, you will find that the unemployment problem has risen in every state,” Gandhi told a crowd at a rally in poll-bound Assam’s Mariani.

    The Mariani seat, where the fate of candidates is determined by tea garden voters, has been held by the Congress for 15 years. “I told you demonetisation and GST destroyed small and middle-size businesses in the country. They started an attack on the farmers by bringing three new Bills. They are trying to snatch the farmers’ rights. In the entire country, they had spread unemployment,” Gandhi alleged.

    He said the Congress, if voted to power in Assam, would give five lakh jobs by filling up the vacant posts in government departments. He committed that the Congress would also help small and middle-size businesses and industries.

    ALSO READ | Congress will hike wages of tea workers in 6 hours of coming to power in Assam, not to implement CAA : Rahul Gandhi

    “Wherever the BJP goes, it makes promises. I am not here to tell lies. I made some commitments ahead of elections in Chhattisgarh, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh. I had said farmers’ loans would be waived off.After the Congress had won the polls in Chhattisgarh, the farmers’ loans were waived off in six hours…

    “If the Congress party chief minister is appointed in Assam, I promise that the tea workers will get a daily wage of Rs 365. You will also get electricity for free up to 200 units and women will get monthly income support of Rs 2,000,” Gandhi committed.

    The last of the Congress’s five “guarantees” is that it will not allow the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment Act (CAA) in Assam. “They tried to implement the CAA but the Congress had stood up against it in the Rajya Sabha as well as the Lok Sabha. We thwarted it. I tell you the CAA won’t come to Assam,” Gandhi promised.

    He also promised that the Congress would protect the culture, language, tradition, and history of Assam and would not allow the state to be run by Nagpur.