န Manmohan Singh calls for change in West Bengal

Howrah, 1 May : Attacking the Left in its backyard, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday said West Bengal is lagging behind because of the communist parties’ policies, and called for a change in the state. Addressing an election meeting here in Howrah's Dumurjala, Manmohan Singh also alleged that the Left was helping the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to come to power by dividing the “secular votes”.
“Their stand on a lot of issues has not kept pace with time… I advice them to change their thoughts to remain on par with the needs of the time.” “In a way, they are helping the BJP in these elections by dividing the secular votes,” Manmohan Singh said.
He also said the Third Front, led by the Left parties, had no chance of coming to power. “The Third Front parties do not have any programme. They don’t have any long-term vision for the country’s development. Their single point programme is to thoughtlessly oppose every work done by the Congress.” န Photo : Jayanta Ghosh

။ West Bengal Lok Sabha Poll ။ 2nd Day

West Bengal registers 64% polling

Kolkata, 30 April : The Left citadel of West Bengal registered a 64 percent voter turnout in 14 Lok Sabha constituencies by Thursday evening. But the largely peaceful poll was marred by a landmine blast, triggered by suspected Maoists, that injured two security personnel.'There was around 64 percent polling till 5 pm. But the figure will go up as people were still queuing up to vote' by the closing time, state chief electoral officer Debasish Sen told reporters here, describing the election as 'peaceful and secure'.

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Maoists trigger landmine blast in Jamboni, 3 died

Jamboni (West Midnapore), 30 April : A landmine blast triggered by the Maoists claimed the lives of three persons, including two polling officials in West Midnapore district Today.The blast, which took place at around 6:00 pm in Jamboni region of West Midnapore district of the state, was triggered using a remote device. The blast was aimed at the polling officials returning from election duty under the security of paramilitary personnel. Two polling officials and the driver were killed in the blast.

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။ Lalgarh & Belpahari, 30 April :

A paramilitary soldier stands guard as voters queue up at a polling station in Lalgarh. ။ Photo : PTI

(Left) An armoured vehicle of India's Border Security Force (BSF) passes a buffalo cart during polling at Belpahari village, about 185 km west of Kolkata. ။ Photo : Reuters

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Polling fails to kick off in Naxalite hit areas in Bengal

Kolkata, Midnapore, 30 April : The spectre of Maoist violence was literally stalking the first phase Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal today as polling could not start in most of the special booths in Naxal-dominated areas in West Midnapore due to high tension. A large number of cans looking like landmines were recovered from Pirakata forest by the side of the Pirakata special booth. In all, 20 cars and busses carrying Central forces along with polling personnel had been stopped near Laljal by the PCAPA activists not allowing them to proceed further. Polling personnel for Laljal booths had been denied to proceed further towards their booths apprehending greater trouble. The entire tribal belt of Belpahari, Banspahari, Lalgarh, Jamboni, Bhulaveda, Goaltore and Salboni was worst hit by the Naxalite menace.

။ Polling begins in West Bengal amid tight security

Kolkata, 30 April : Polling began in West Bengal for 14 of its 42 Lok Sabha seats amid tight security in the northern and Maoist-hit western regions on Thursday. The polling centers opened at 7 am to enable 16 million voters to choose their nominees to the Lok Sabha from among 134 candidates in the first phase of the polls in a state ruled by the Left Front without a break for 32 years.
The three Maoist-hit districts of Bankura, Midnapore West and Purulia pose the biggest security challenge. Authorities have requisitioned three Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters for constant air surveillance and shortened polling time by two hours in six pockets most affected by Maoist violence in Jhargram, Binpur and Bandwan in Midnapore West and Balarampur, Bagmundi and Jaipur in Purulia.Tension soared Wednesday as Naxalites posters asking people to boycott polls appeared in various parts of the state, including Kolkata, throwing the adminstration and police into a tizzy.

In Lalgarh block in the Jhargram constituency of Midnapore (West) district, agitating tribals blocked the movement of central security personnel. The securitymen could finally move out of the area, but not before furnishing bonds. The polling officials in the Maoist belt were kept in clusters on Wednesday and moved to the booths early Thursday, ringed by security personnel.
Besides five seats in the three districts, nine constituencies in six north Bengal districts; Darjeeling (where GJM is hoping to realise its dreams of a new Gorkhaland state out of parts of northern Bengal with the help of the saffron party BJP), Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur and Malda - are going to the hustings. Besides Jaswant Singh in Derjeeling, other high profile candidates in this phase include Deepa Dasmunsi, the wife of ailing Congress heavyweight Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi who is contesting from his constituency Raiganj against the CPI (M) Bireshwar Lahiri and a formidable independent Abdul Karim Chowdhury.
West Bengal has 42 Lok Sabha seats. While 17 seats go to the polls 7 May, the other 11 vote 13 May.

။ Photo : Reuters

။ 2 jawans injured in landmine blast in Purulia

Near polling station at Biramdih
Purulia, 30 April : Maoists exploded a landmine near a polling booth at Biramdih in West Bengal's Purulia district on Thursday, injuring two Central paramilitary force jawans.The jawans were patrolling the area when the Maoists exploded the landmine at around 7.50 am following which polling was suspended at the booth, Superintendent of Police Rajesh Yadav told Bengal Newz. The SP said security reinforcements have been rushed to the area.The main contest in Purulia Lok Sabha seat is between Narhari Mahato (All India Forward Bloc) and Shantiram Mahato (Congress) supported by the Trinamool Congress. ။ Photo : Reuters

။ Sonia shares dais with Mamata, slams WB's Left Front

We are extremly happy to have Mamata here with us : Sonia Gandhi
Aligarh Muslim University campus in Murshidabad : Pranab Mukherjee
Jangipur, 27 April : Sharing the dais with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for the first time in eight years, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Left parties for failure to support UPA government on the nuclear deal issue. "To meet the growing energy requirement, we went for the nuclear deal, but the Left opposed us saying it was not required," Sonia Gandhi said addressing an election meeting in this key Lok Sabha constituency from where external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee is contesting.
Attacking the Leftists in the Left Front ruled state, she said that the ambitious rural job scheme, NREGA, was not implemented properly in West Bengal. Gandhi accused the Left Front West Bengal government of paying lip service to the poor and downtrodden sections of the society though Leftists swore by their name and claimed themselves to be their 'messiah'.Taking a dig at the hordes of prime ministerial aspirants, Gandhi said "these days it a fashion to aspire for prime ministership. But the Congress aim is to serve the country and its people." Seeking votes for the Congress-TMC combine, Gandhi said there is a need for secular and stable govt at the Centre. "I am sure you will vote for the combine to ensure a stable and secular government at the Centre," she said. Targeting minority votes in the state, Pranab Mukherjee announced setting up of Aligarh Muslim University campus in Murshidabad district of the state.
The trio will also be touring Lalgola, Murshidabad, Malda, and Jalpaiguri. Gandhi had last shared the platform with Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata during state Assembly elections in 2001 after which the TC supremo had joined hands with the NDA.

။ What Elections ? Ask Mousuni island

At Mousuni island in West Bengal’s Sundarbans, it hardly looks like election time. Though there are no party flags or posters, politicians do come to the three villages in the island seeking votes and making promises of development. One of the major problems of the island of some 25,000 people is sea-water flooding that spoils standing crops seasonally, and the soil permanently. An incomplete embankment project on the Muriganga, crop failure, lack of employment, and dropping fish catch have forced many to migrate.
Will the coming elections change things for the hapless people of Mousuni island ? ။ Photo : A.Roy Chowdhury

န Thousands of tribals participated in Kolkata rally

Tribals protest in all over Kolkata on "Lalgarh" issue
Kolkata, 24 April : Nearly 1,500 armed tribals brought traffic to a grinding halt in Kolkata for almost two hours on Friday evening. The tribals from Lalgarh and other parts of West Bengal blocked the traffic at Esplanade area in protest when police stopped them breaching the no-entry zone.The police allegedly beat up some protestors and damaged their vehicles following a scuffle after the tribals gathered in Kolkata to express solidarity with the people of Lalgarh, where tribals with the help of Maoists have banned the entry of police. Earlier, security forces conducted flag march in the Maoist-hit areas in West Bengal, including Lalgarh in West Midnapore district.
West Bengal's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Debashis Sen said that 27 companies of Central force had already arrived in the state for election duty and many of them had already gone to Maoist-hit and other sensitive areas. ။ Photo : AP

န Pranab Rules Out Support From Left To Form Govt

Burdwan, Arambagh, 24 April : Two days after saying in Kolkata that Congress was open to Left support to form the next government at the Centre, senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee on Friday ruled out the possibility.
"Congress has always formed government at the Centre without the support of Left parties. In 2004, they themselves came forward to support the Congress-led UPA to stop the BJP and save their existence," Mukherjee said in a poll rally at Parul village near Bhatar in Burdwan district. He said the Left parties were not a political force in the national arena and do not exist outside the three states of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura.
Mukherjee said at another election rally at Arambagh in Hooghly district that he saw no chance of the Third Front coming to power at the Centre as indicated by the voting trends. In two of the three CPM-ruled states - Kerala and Tripura - the voting trends indicated that the Third Front was not able to take off, Mukherjee told election meetings in Hooghly and Burdwan districts.

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Left may ally with Congress after polls : Buddhadeb

PTI, New Delhi, 24 April : West Bengal chief minister and senior CPI(M) leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has not ruled out the possibility of the Left parties working with Congress again if the situation warrants after the Lok Sabha polls.
"We are not committing anything.... After elections, when the situation will arise, we will discuss on the concrete situation at that time," he said when asked whether Left parties could again "ally" with the Congress to keep BJP out if the situation demands. He said the Left parties at present are "busy with the task to defeat both the Congress and the BJP." Asked whether Left parties, like in 2004, would again remain out of government if they get a chance to be part of it, Bhattacharya said "History does not repeat itself. What happened in 2004, I don't think its going to get repeated again." He referred to 1996 when the Left parties rejected the idea of Jyoti Basu becoming the Prime Minister and said "we discussed and decided that if situation demands and if we can play a meaningful role in the Government, then we have to think over and we may join this Government."
On Congress, the CPM leader said the Left parties had no problem with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as an individual but were opposed to his policies.

။ Record 84 per cent votes polled in Tripura Election

< Voters await their turn to cast their ballot at a polling station in Ramchandraghat village (Left) and Gamchacobra village (Right) in Tripura today.
Agartala, 23 April : Voting to elect two Lok Sabha members from the northeastern state of Tripura ended peacefully Thursday evening with more than 80 percent people exercising their franchise. “Over 80 percent of the 20.8 lakh voters cast their ballot across the state,” said Dilip Acherjee, additional chief electoral officer.
The prominent candidates are six-time MP Bajuban Reang of CPI(M) from Tripura east while his party colleague Khagen Das contested from Tripura west. Altogether, 19 candidates, including one woman, were in the contest for the two seats, polling for which was held amidst tight security. The total number of voters in the state is 20,82,205, the sources said. DIG (Police control), Nepal Das said not a single untoward incident was reported from any part of the state. “In the wake of possible militants’ violence, 30,000 security personnel were deployed while two air surveillance teams led by senior police officials also keept vigil by two military helicopters,” Das said.

State CPI (M) leader and Tripura Rural Development & Panchayet Minister Jitendra Chowdhury expressed happiness over the peaceful and huge turn out. “We are happy with the (huge turnout) and the polling so far is peaceful,” he told Bengal Newz.

Six central observers, 266 magistrates and 500 micro-observes were appointed to oversee the poll process and ensure free and fair elections, said Sanjeev Ranjan, the chief electoral officer of the state. About 20,000 poll officials escorted by security forces were manning 3,008 polling stations across the state, the poll official said.

Besides sealing the India-Bangladesh international border, night curfew was imposed along the 856-km long territory with Bangladesh, Ranjan said. ။ Photo : Reuters & Parthajit Dutta

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Gates on India-Bangladesh border fence open for Tripura voters

Agartala, 23 April : The gates on the barbed wire fence along the India-Bangladesh border in Tripura would remain open till the balloting ends to enable all voters to exercise their franchise, an official said here Thursday.

"We have asked the Border Security Force (BSF) to open the gates on the border fence for the whole day to facilitate the voters to exercise their franchise," said Dilip Acherjee, additional chief electoral officer. The fence is 150 yards from the actual border, and many Indians have their homes and farms in between. The gates are usually opened 2-3 times day to enable them to move back and forth.

An estimated 45,000 people from 10,000 families were displaced after their homes and farms fell outside the fence. Though a large number of people shifted their houses inside the fencing, several thousand families still live outside.

။ Andaman and Nicobar record 49.4% voter turnout

Port Blair, 16 April : The lone Lok Sabha seat in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands recorded a voter turnout of 49.4% amidst heavy rains on Thursday. Braving rains since the morning there was good turnout in the Andamans and Nancowrie Islands, election office sources said.
Today's election sealed the fate of 11 candidates in EVMS. Polling was sparse in the Tsunami-affected area of South Andaman, like Sippighat, Chouldari, Manpur, Farrergunj, where roughly a thousand tsunami-affected people are lodged.
In stark contrast large queues were seen outside booths in Port Blair city of the Nicobar Islands.
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18 killed during first phase of polling for Indian LS
PTI, New Delhi, 16 April : An estimated 60% of the 14.30 crore voters exercised their franchise in the first phase of Indian Lok Sabha poll in 124 constituencies largescale violence by Naxals in four states killed 18 people, including five poll officials and 10 security personnel.

Simultaneous elections to assemblies in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa also drew about 60 voters' response with the polling today covering more than half of the constituencies in the two states. Heavily-armed Naxals went into action shortly after voting began this morning, blasting landmine targeting a bus ferrying Border Security Force personnel in Jharkhand's Latehar district in Jharkhand leaving seven personnel and two civilians dead.
Maoists blew up a vehicle carrying poll officials in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district, killing five of them and traded gunfire with security forces killing two CRPF jawans. Polling booths were set on fire and there was exchange of fire between naxals and security forces in Dantewada and Narainpur areas of the state that left two CRPF jawan dead and five others injured.
In Bihar's Gaya district, the Maoists shot dead two security personnel. "Considering the complexity and the challenges, the Election Commission is totally satisfied with today's polling, deputy election commissioner R Balakrishnan told reporters here while briefing mediapersons about the voter turnout.
Today's election will decide the fate of 1,715 candidates including RJD chief Lalu Prasad, BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha, TRS president K Chandrasekar Rao and union ministers Praful Patel, Renuka Chowdhury, Meira Kumar and S Jaipal Reddy.
Voting began on a sedate note in the 124 constituencies spread across 17 states and union territories and picked up during the day.

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Polling begins in Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Port Blair, 16 April : Polling for the lone Lok Sabha seat in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands began this morning. There are 11 candidates, including a single woman in the fray. Six of the contestants are first timers. There would be 347 polling stations.
The largest polling station is at Pathrapur in the South Andaman with 1611 voters. The smallest polling station is on East Island where there are only 7 voters, all forest department employees. A high security alert has been sounded for the polls.

။ Be an Informed Voter

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။ Lok Sabha Vote, 2009

Poll woe looms for West Bengal left

Subir Bhaumik, BBC News, Kolkata, 8 April : The left is expected to lose many seats in its West Bengal heartland. With a fortnight left to the start of India's parliamentary elections, the country's left-wing parties are trying hard to push a "Third Front" in opposition to the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led coalitions.

The left has tied up with strong lower-caste parties in a number of states and with some regional parties like the ruling BJD, a former BJP ally, in the eastern state of Orissa. But the left's success in stitching together this apparently unwieldy coalition depends greatly on its own performance in its strongest bastion, the state of West Bengal, where a left-wing coalition has now ruled for more than three decades.

Going by current trends, that will not be an easy task. READ MORE

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Security beefed up in Purulia district
PTI, Purulia, 8 April : Security measures in Maoist infested Purulia district was beefed up on Wednesday in view of polling on 30 April. In a joint press conference in Purulia, District Magistrate Santanu Bose and Superintendent of Police Rajesh Yadav said 500 persons were arrested so far. Eleven check posts within 380 km radius between Purulia and Bokaro and Ramgarh in Jharkhand will be sealed ten days before the polls. Police are keeping close watch on the safety and security of villagers in 430 earmarked localities. A helicopter has been kept ready for use in naxal infested areas of Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapore. High officials are keeping close watch on the movement of maoists.

Earlier, Debasis Sen state’s Chief Electoral Officer visited the Maoist infested areas of Jangalmahal and alerted all concerned about security measures.

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Tripura to use helicopter during Lok Sabha election

Agartala, 8 April : The Ministry of Defence has allotted two helicopters to Tripura for five days during general election to be held on 23 April for security surveillance, election officials said here today. Additional Chief Election Officer Dilip Acharjee told mediapersons that with the instruction from Election Commission of India (ECI), the Centre had assured Tripura to provide the aircraft considering the security issue.”

Both the choppers will be made available on 20 April for five days in the state and these will be used for air surveillance on the day of the poll and continue to be used until all the EVMs enter into the strong room,” Acharjee said. Though the helicopters would be provided by the Defence Ministry, the entire expenditure Rs 50,000 per hour if used and Rs 36,000 per day if not used has to be borne by the state government.

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Third Front certain to win Lok Sabha polls, asserts Karat in Agartala Poll rally
Agaratala, 5 April : CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat Sunday said it was now “thousand percent confirmed” that the Third Front with the Left parties in the lead would form the government at the centre after the Lok Sabha polls.
“While the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has already broken, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not a single ally in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and many other states,” he said, addressing an election rally in the Tripura capital.
In his 30-minute speech, the CPI-M chief cited the “wrong and anti-people policies” of both the Congress and the BJP and stressed the importance of forming an alternative government at the centre. Karat said as the left parties intervened in the central government’s policies till July last year, the effect of world-wide economic slowdown was yet to impacted on the Indian economy.”
Talking to the newsmen later, the CPI(M) leader, however, refused to predict how many seats the Left parties and other alliance parties of Third Front expected to win. “The Left parties alone are fighting more than 150 seats and if the parties aligned with the Third Front are taken into account, the combine is fighting far more seats than the Congress party,” he said. ။ Photo Courtesy : Desher Katha

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Obama effect : Web-lobbying takes off in Indian Poll
Kolkata, 5 April : With the largest democracy of the world going to polls this month, campaigning for the 15th Lok Sabha election has ventured into a new dimension of web-lobbying. And, the virtual world is not just limited to serious poll business but the fun quotient is also present in the run-up to the election. The trend of using social media to create awareness and promoting candidates and parties is fast catching on in India, this time.
"The trendsetter is definitely Barack Obama. Indian politicians have realized web-lobbying will help them garner more support and a wider base," said Pulak Barua, product development manager of V-empower, regarding the growing acceptance of web-lobbying in India.

Incidentally, his firm has done web-lobbying for politicians in the UK and the US. In India, V-empower has done that for L K Advani, Renuka Chowdhury and Chandrababu Naidu to name a few. "The popularity is such that we are getting offers for web lobbying from various quarters every single day," said Barua.
There is a difference though between international political clients and the Indian leaders. "International politicians know their target audience and have the data in place. Initially, politicians here did not want the site and once they get it, they do not use it. In 2004, too, we created a couple of sites but it never picked up because the response from the politicians was poor," he said.
A French e-lobbying site based on blogs, incidentally, features the forthcoming Indian elections. The website is seeking prospective clients interested in web-lobbying. Shifting from serious election business, many sites have also come up to create awareness through sheer fun. For instance, citizens can write manifestoes and decide them for the government through http://www.election.lordsofodds.com/! The popular ones get voted by the other members also.
The Hyderabad-based 7Seas Technologies have launched five online games based on the polls. Within a fortnight of its launch, the games have got more than 3 lakh hits. "We had created a game before the US presidential election, which was highly successful. We tried the same this time anticipating similar popularity. Majority of the players are Indian young adults in the age group of 18-20 years," said Maruthi Sanker, managing director of 7Seas.
Though offers have poured in for ads and web lobbying as part of the online games from various parties, Sanker and his team want to keep it fun-based. While national parties are going all out to make the most of the new phenomenon, the regional ones are yet to get off the blocks. "India still has a long way to go for web lobbying," said Barua.

။ Lok Sabha Vote, 2009

န Government gearing up for police action in Lalgarh
Kolkata, 4 April : The WB state government is gearing up for a pre-poll offensive in Lalgarh, state home secretary Ardhendu Sen said on Saturday. Reiterating the government stand on Lalgarh, he said: "Police action is necessary for holding peaceful elections in Lalgarh. Without police, there will be no election there and it will appear as if the government is boycotting the polls. We can't allow that."
A high-level meeting was being held at Writers' Buildings on Saturday to formulate the course of police action in Lalgarh. The home secretary said the government's course of action will be made known in the next seven days.
Left Front chairman Biman Bose said on Saturday that the so-called checkposts set up by Chhatradhar Mahato's People's Committee against Police Atrocities at Barabeliachowk and Ramgarg were an assault on democracy. The checkposts have been put up to bar policemen and the ruling party supporters from entering Lalgarh. Reacting to this, Bose said: "This is an infringement on the constitutional rights of citizens."
It is clear that both the Left and the state government are confronted with a huge challenge to conduct elections in Lalgarh, considering that the police and the administration are not being allowed to enter the area. Of the 41 polling stations in the area, police have been able to enter only about 14 of those areas till now. Senior officials are making aerial surveys of the area in helicopters.

။ Lok Sabha Vote, 2009

န CPI(M) demands constitution of assembly for Andaman and Nicobar
Port Blair, 4 April : CPI(M) is contesting the only seat of Andaman & Nicobar in the union territory of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Tapan Bepari, state secretariat member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and former president of the state unit of the All India Kisan Sabha is the candidate for this seat. Tapan belongs to the weaker section of the settlers’ family. He is a lawyer by profession.
This constituency has about 3-4 lakhs of voters. Nicobar group of islands is predominantly a tribal dominated area with about 20 thousand registered voters. The Andaman group of islands is largely populated by settlers. It can be divided into north, middle and southern parts. While Bengali speaking people dominate in north and middle parts, Tamil speaking people dominate the southern part. The southern part of Andaman also has people having Telugu and Malayalam as their mother tongue. The city of Port Blair lies in the south.
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Rebel zones 'Junglemohal' get 2 hours less to vote
Jhargram, 3 April : Voting will close two hours early in Maoist pockets in Jhargram and Purulia. The official polling time is 7am to 5pm, but in Bandwan and Binpur in the Jhargram seat, and Joypur, Bagmundi and Balarampur in the Purulia constituency, polling will end at 3pm because of security reasons.
Debashis Sen, the state’s chief electoral officer, completed a tour of the Maoist-infested areas before making the announcement today. He also said a resident from each polling booth area would be selected by the district magistrates to act as a “volunteer” on polling day. Each will be given the phone number of the local polling official to be contacted in case any untoward incident takes place.
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CEO pleads with villagers not to boycott the vote
Ranibandh, 1 April : In the remote jungles of Ranibandh in southern Bankura, WB chief electoral officer Debashis Sen was pursuing a very different trail this morning. Far removed from reading out the Election Commission’s diktats from his office in Kolkata. He was listening to the complaints of villagers in this Maoist-infested pocket of south Bengal and subtly persuading them not to boycott this year’s general election to protest “lack of development” in their area.The region, which includes adjoining Purulia and West Midnapore, will go to the polls on 30 April. Boycott of polls is not uncommon here. Many villagers in this tribal belt had not voted in the 2006 Assembly elections either.The chief electoral officer, who stayed overnight at Mukutmanipur, will tour Purulia tomorrow.
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Bengal's Maoists issue threat on CEO's Lalgarh visit
Howrah, 1 April : On the day when WB's chief electoral officer Debashish Sen is on the way to visit troubled Lalgarh in West Midnapore, CPI (Maoist) state secretary Kanchan issued a statement claiming that Maoists will continue to remain in the heart of the people of Jangalmahal.Kanchan said that Red rebels still don't believe in the election process. He said CPI (Maoist) and Peoples' Liberation Guerrilla army will lead from the front in case of police action in Jangalmahal. The statement read that the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government was preparing for another mass-killing by sending police to Lalgarh. Since November 2008, police have not been able to enter the area.
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North West Bengal's tribal body to boycott polls
Siliguri, 1 April : Akhil Bharatiya Adivashi Vikash Parishad (ABAVP), a tribal body in West Bengal's northern hills, Wednesday announced that they will boycott the Lok Sabha elections in the Terai-Dooars region of the state.'We had given a memorandum to the Jalpaiguri administration over a month back, asking for a separate constituency at Terai-Dooars to be reserved for Scheduled Tribes,' John Barla, ABAVP's Terai and Dooars co-ordination committee president, said here. Barla said about 60 percent of the total population of Terai-Dooars are tribals.

။ Lok Sabha Vote, 2009

The schedule of the five-phase elections for the 15th Lok Sabha has been announced and if there is one word to describe the political slugfest, it has to be 'Unpredictable'.
The arithmetic could work either way and almost all political parties are nervous about going to the polls. Equally, the people of India are uncertain about what the elections will ultimately throw up....

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