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All eyes on Nandigram

KOLKATA: All eyes are on Monday’s by-election to the Nandigram Assembly constituency in West Bengal’s Purbo Medinipur district, considered significant because of the troubled past of the region.

While the Election Commission has taken elaborate steps to ensure a peaceful poll in an area that was torn by violence and remained largely inaccessible to the police and civil authorities for much of 2007, the political implications of the electoral outcome are immense.

The elections will be held at a time when the odd echo can still be heard of the turf war between the Trinamool Congress and the Left parties that lasted several months in 2007 and a casualty of which was the chemical hub the government had proposed to set up there — a project that it was forced to withdraw in the face of hostilities by a section of the residents.

Massive security arrangements have been made to ensure there is no breach of law and order during the polling. Companies of the Border Security Force and the Central Reserve Police Force are being drafted in to supplement the local police force. All 226 booths have been declared sensitive by the authorities. Video cameras will be installed in every booth.

The outcome in Nandigram could have ramifications across the State ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, particularly in rural West Bengal. Political observers reason that it will be a reflection of whether the ruling Left Front has the grassroots support it needs to go ahead with its policies for greater industrialisation. Also to be seen is whether opposition from the Trinamool Congress to the acquisition of farmland for industry will serve it well in the elections.

By gaining control of the local rural bodies, the Trinamool Congress has been successful in making substantial inroads into what has been long a Left bastion; whether it will continue to be in the ascendancy will be determined on the day of counting of votes.

The by-poll has been necessitated by the resignation of the local MLA of the Communist Party of India, Sheikh Ilias Md., who is facing a graft charge.

By-election will also be held for the Sujapur constituency in Malda district, considered a stronghold of the Congress. The seat has remained vacant since the death of Congress MLA Rubi Noor in July 2008.

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