The countdown has begun for the 16th
general election results with hardly two days left for the vote counting
process amid exit poll projections of a change in government grabbing
headlines.
Once the EVMs are opened at 8am on
Friday in the counting centres and the counting process gets underway,
the debate over the likelihood of a National Democratic Alliance
government led by the BJP or a valiant return of the Congress-led United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) for the third time is all set to take
centrestage.
The poll holds special significance for
Darjeeling parliamentary constituency as it may bring a light of hope
for the Gorkha population in achieving their prolonged demand for the
right to self-determination in terms of statehood.
Two places have been specified for
counting in the constituency including Gorkha Rangamancha Bhawan in
Darjeeling and Siliguri College in Siliguri sub-division. All results
are expected to be out by 2pm, state election commission department
sources said, adding security measures have been tightened in vulnerable
areas to avert any post-poll disturbances.
Addressing the security issue, Siliguri
police deputy commissioner OG Paul said, “The administration has taken a
very tight security measure to tackle any kind of disturbance. Two
platoons of central forces will be deployed and they have already
arrived in town. There will be an additional 50 personnel of the state
armed police and 200 local policemen on duty at the counting centre at
Siliguri College.”
The parliamentary constituency voted on
April 17 along with Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar
constituencies of North Bengal in the first phase of the five-phase long
poll voting process. As many as 13 candidates contested the poll from
Darjeeling including SS Ahluwalia of the BJP, Baichung Bhutia of the
Trinamool Congress, Saman Pathak of the CPM, Sujoy Ghatak of the Congress, Nima Lama of the Gorkha Rashtriya Congress, Niranjan Saha of
Amra Bangalee, Kakali Majumder of the Bahujan Samaj Party, Gautam
Bhattacharya of the SUCI (C), Sunil Pandit of the RJP, Lalit Singha of
the BMP and three independent candidates – Mahendra P Lama, Arun Kumar
Agarwal and Rabindra Roy Basunia.
According to political observers,
Ahluwalia may get an edge given the support of the Gorkha Janamukti
Morcha and the ongoing ‘Modi wave’. But they feel Bhutia, Pathak and
Lama are likely to give a tough fight to the BJP veteran.(EOIC)