July 12.VIVEK CHHETRI AND AVIJIT SINHA.TT: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha
today bagged 28 seats uncontested before the July 29 GTA elections and
chief Bimal Gurung thanked the CPM for making this possible by
withdrawing its last five candidates today out of fear.
“I would like to thank the CPM
leadership for its wise decision,” Gurung said at Singamari after the 28
candidates got their winner’s certificates.
The Morcha is now
poised for a straight contest with Trinamul Congress in 16 seats. In one
seat, a Morcha rebel is contesting against the hill party.
Gurung seemed upset that Trinamul too had not withdrawn from the fray.
“I have been
hurt,” he said. “The GTA was not something we had demanded. It was the
Trinamul-led state government and the Centre that asked us to administer
the body, a request which we accepted. With the Trinamul deciding to
contest the elections, it seems the party wants to run the GTA. The
state government has gone against the spirit of the agreement.”
He added: “But, one must understand that there are no permanent friends and enemies in politics.”
Today, the CPM
candidates from Rimbick-Lodhama, Relling-Kaijalia, Pul-Bijanbari-Goke,
Chongtong-Marybong-Tamsong and Sukhia-Maneybhanjyan constituencies
withdrew their names.
In Kurseong, two
Independents — I.N. Pradhan from Mahanadi-Tindharia and Nishal Pakhrin
from Pankhabari-Ambootia —withdrew their nominations. As a result, the
Morcha has won six of the 10 seats uncontested in this subdivision.
In both Darjeeling and Kurseong, the contest will be between the Morcha and the Trinamul candidates.
In Kalimpong, apart from the nine Trinamul candidates, one Morcha rebel, Sanchabir Subba, is in the fray.
The party this evening announced the expulsion of Sanchabir from the party.
The CPM today
blamed the Morcha for being forced to withdraw their candidates.
“Initially, we had thought of contesting in 23 seats but could not file
nominations in 10 because of the Morcha’s resistance and the district
administration’s attitude of not wanting to intervene,” Jibesh Sarkar,
the acting secretary of the Darjeeling CPM, said.
“Thirteen
nominations were filed but our candidates had to face consistent
intimidation from Morcha that kept insisting that we withdraw the
nominations.”
The CPM leaders had earlier said the decision to contest lay with the candidates.
“The remaining
five candidates, who we thought would be able to contest in the polls,
were repeatedly threatened and asked with follow their co-workers and
abstain from contesting the elections since yesterday. This has prompted
us to instruct them to withdraw the nominations today,” Sarkar said.
“This has happened
at a time when the chief minister is herself in Darjeeling district
and indicates the pathetic role of administration in maintaining peace
and democracy. The elections are nothing but a farce process to gift GTA
to the Morcha,” he added.
Eight of the CPM
candidates withdrew from the race yesterday, allowing the Morcha 22
uncontested seats, just one short of the majority in the GTA Sabha. One
Trinamul candidate and a host of dummy Independents also withdrew their
names yesterday. One candidate from a small hill party also quit the
race.
Before Wednesday, the Morcha was uncontested in 13 seats.
The uncontested
Morcha leaders were given winner certificates this evening and Gurung
sounded confident that all the 17 Morcha candidates would win the
elections by a comfortable margin.
“There could be
some semblance of a fight at Panighata (where Trinamul candidate Rajen
Mukhia is taking on Morcha’s Champa Biwar) but even there we will win
comfortably,” said Gurung.
The party will
hold a meeting with the uncontested leaders in Darjeeling tomorrow and
assign them duties for canvassing in constituencies which will go to
polls.
“The GTA is an
outcome of the people’s struggle. We will leave no stone unturned to
bring about development in the region. We will co-opt members from the
study forum and also other party leaders to address the problems of the
general public,” said Gurung.
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