02-13-2006, 10:04 PM
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Terrible Red blot
The Pioneer Edit Desk
The Election Commission has reasons to feel disappointed with the official machinery of West Bengal and cannot be faulted for making its displeasure public last Friday. Over the past month, 19 observers of the Election Commission, including the redoubtable Mr KJ Rao who almost single-handedly ensured free and fair election in Bihar, have been scouring the districts of West Bengal to spot loopholes in the electoral process. What they have discovered till now is sufficient to question the very basis of elections in this State where the Marxists have held sway for nearly three decades.
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For instance, there are more than 70 lakh fake ration cards in this bastion of the CPI(M)-led Left Front that can be used as a convenient cover to indulge in massive rigging. Tens of thousands of names on existing voters lists have been found to be those of ghost voters who would presumably surface on voting day to cast their ballot and then disappear into the great void.
Of the 41 lakh names put up by the CPI(M) for inclusion in revised voters lists, half have been found to be fake. <i> In village after village, people have mobbed the observers to record how they have had to suffer retribution and worse for not voting for the comrades. </i> These and other details, as they have emerged, present a scary picture of the extent to which the Left can go to ensure victory in election.
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It is not surprising that CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat and his comrades worship fellow charlatan Hugo Chavez and aspire to convert all of India into Venezuela. The 'scientific rigging' that we have heard of all along now stands exposed as nothing more than political thuggery and subversion of democracy by taking recourse to foulest of means. We might not as well go through the charade of holding elections in West Bengal and allow the Left a walkover - that would at least spare the lives of those who dare to stand up to the crime of rigging.
Unless, of course, the Election Commission can ensure that this time round, the Left will not be allowed to get away with what it has been doing all these years. The ongoing efforts to cleanse the voters lists and weed out malcontents from the administrative machinery are no doubt laudable.
But a lot more requires to be done. Mere tampering with the electoral rolls and minor reshuffle of officials are unlikely to prevent the Marxists from fixing the coming Assembly Election. The commission must adopt a policy of zero tolerance and refuse to conduct any election in West Bengal unless it is sure that the voting will be demonstrably free and fair.
<b>The CPI(M) is understandably alarmed and has threatened to call for a mass uprising if election is not held by June 13. Such threats, however, should not be taken into consideration; on the contrary, the Election Commission should call the CPI(M)'s bluff.</b>
Meanwhile, since it is abundantly clear that a free and fair election cannot be conducted with the help of West Bengal Government employees and police who are loyal foot soldiers of the CPI(M), the Election Commission must immediately begin the process of drafting staff from other States and deploying Central security forces. The farce we have witnessed in the name of elections for three decades cannot be allowed to continue. A flawed election in West Bengal will be a blot on India's credentials as the world's largest democracy.
Terrible Red blot
The Pioneer Edit Desk
The Election Commission has reasons to feel disappointed with the official machinery of West Bengal and cannot be faulted for making its displeasure public last Friday. Over the past month, 19 observers of the Election Commission, including the redoubtable Mr KJ Rao who almost single-handedly ensured free and fair election in Bihar, have been scouring the districts of West Bengal to spot loopholes in the electoral process. What they have discovered till now is sufficient to question the very basis of elections in this State where the Marxists have held sway for nearly three decades.
<b>
For instance, there are more than 70 lakh fake ration cards in this bastion of the CPI(M)-led Left Front that can be used as a convenient cover to indulge in massive rigging. Tens of thousands of names on existing voters lists have been found to be those of ghost voters who would presumably surface on voting day to cast their ballot and then disappear into the great void.
Of the 41 lakh names put up by the CPI(M) for inclusion in revised voters lists, half have been found to be fake. <i> In village after village, people have mobbed the observers to record how they have had to suffer retribution and worse for not voting for the comrades. </i> These and other details, as they have emerged, present a scary picture of the extent to which the Left can go to ensure victory in election.
</b>
It is not surprising that CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat and his comrades worship fellow charlatan Hugo Chavez and aspire to convert all of India into Venezuela. The 'scientific rigging' that we have heard of all along now stands exposed as nothing more than political thuggery and subversion of democracy by taking recourse to foulest of means. We might not as well go through the charade of holding elections in West Bengal and allow the Left a walkover - that would at least spare the lives of those who dare to stand up to the crime of rigging.
Unless, of course, the Election Commission can ensure that this time round, the Left will not be allowed to get away with what it has been doing all these years. The ongoing efforts to cleanse the voters lists and weed out malcontents from the administrative machinery are no doubt laudable.
But a lot more requires to be done. Mere tampering with the electoral rolls and minor reshuffle of officials are unlikely to prevent the Marxists from fixing the coming Assembly Election. The commission must adopt a policy of zero tolerance and refuse to conduct any election in West Bengal unless it is sure that the voting will be demonstrably free and fair.
<b>The CPI(M) is understandably alarmed and has threatened to call for a mass uprising if election is not held by June 13. Such threats, however, should not be taken into consideration; on the contrary, the Election Commission should call the CPI(M)'s bluff.</b>
Meanwhile, since it is abundantly clear that a free and fair election cannot be conducted with the help of West Bengal Government employees and police who are loyal foot soldiers of the CPI(M), the Election Commission must immediately begin the process of drafting staff from other States and deploying Central security forces. The farce we have witnessed in the name of elections for three decades cannot be allowed to continue. A flawed election in West Bengal will be a blot on India's credentials as the world's largest democracy.