Municipality elections will be held in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik on December 11

 Darjeeling, Nov. 2: The principal hill parties opposed to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha may not contest the first municipal polls in the region in seven years to protest the signing of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration agreement, saying such a set-up “betrayed the cause of a separate state”.

Municipality elections will be held in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik on December 11. The filing of nominations will start on November 8.

The two major Morcha rivals from the Darjeeling hills, the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxist and the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League, will hold separate meetings on November 6 to take a final call on the issue.

Govind Chhetri, the spokesperson for the CPRM, said: “We will hold our central committee meeting on November 6 to decide on our stand.”

Chhetri, however, admitted that “the majority of senior leaders” of the party were against contesting the election. “The senior leaders believe that the election is just an eyewash and an attempt to derail the Gorkhaland agitation and shift the focus from the statehood issue. We will, however, take a final call only on November 6,” said Chhetri.

Laxman Pradhan, the vice-president of the ABGL, also said his party would decide whether to participate in the municipality elections only on November 6.

The elections to the four hill municipalities were last held in 2004. The next elections after the expiry of their five-year term were scheduled for June 28, 2009, but could not be held because nobody filed nominations after objections from the Morcha which had wanted elections to a three-tier panchayat body to be held simultaneously.

In the GTA agreement, there is a provision to put in place the three-tier panchayat body in the hills.

With the CPRM indicating that it might not contest the municipality elections, questions are being raised on their role in strengthening democracy in the hills.

“Winning or losing an election is not important but opposition parties should at least contest so as to strengthen democracy. It is the opposition which is crying hoarse that there is no democracy in the hills and when the time has come to act, they are failing in their duty by shying away from the elections for whatever reason,” said a hill resident. “The hill people should at least have an option to cast their votes for a candidate of their choice if they do not subscribe to the Morcha’s views.”

Another resident, however, backed the rival outfits’ stand. “The municipal polls will only expose the opposition parties’ supporters when they campaign. Later they will be targeted by the Morcha,” he said.

During the Assembly polls this year, too, the CPRM had not fielded any candidates for the three hill seats. The ABGL, however, had contested the election.

For the civic polls, the Morcha has already started selecting candidates.

Darjeeling has 32 wards, while Kalimpong has 23 wards, followed by 20 in Kurseong and nine in Mirik.

TT