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Desperate measures, tactical shift
‘Anti-incumbency will see us back in power’
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‘SAD headed for clean sweep; EC was partial’
‘Poll results will boost PPP workers’ morale’
1,000 voters ‘reject’ all candidates
Manpreet’s surgery today
Political parties lack clarity on sports policy
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Desperate measures, tactical shift
Chandigarh, January 31 While one would have to wait till March 6 to know which strategy actually worked, the battle lines in the polls this time were clearly drawn, at least for the traditional rivals, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Congress, and they knew exactly what to do. The last assembly elections in 2007 saw the Congress breaking into the Akali bastion in Malwa, winning 37 of the 65 seats. Riding high on the Dera Sucha Sauda support and its pro-farmer policies, the Congress managed to wrest Malwa, but the urban ire against the party led to its virtual wipeout from its stronghold of Doaba and Majha where it won only 7 of the 52 seats. Though the Akalis then won only 49 seats and their vote percentage was less than the Congress, they managed to form the government on BJP’s strength, which performed exceedingly well by winning 19 of the 23 seats that it contested.
looking for gains in Malwa
As far as the SAD is concerned, many unprecedented peculiarities in its strategies were observed during the run-up to the polls. The foremost being the projection of the party warhorse Parkash Singh Badal as the chief ministerial candidate. While the SAD president and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal was groomed as the heir apparent all through the five years of the Akali-BJP rule, close to the polls, the party realised that his acceptability among the electorate was an issue. This forced the party to retreat and fall back on the man of all seasons, Parkash Singh Badal. This move had the advantage insofar the mild-mannered image of Badal Senior being more acceptable to the electorate, but at the same time his advanced age distances him from the youth voters.
attempts to win over youth
While the Congress and the PPP made serious attempts to win over the youth, the octogenarian Parkash Singh Badal is certainly not a youth icon. In the past five years, the Youth Akali Dal and the party’s student wing, the Student Organisation of India (SOI), emerged slightly controversial because of what the electorate perceived as their high-handed functioning. The Akali Dal, as a part of its strategy, made the Youth Akali Dal and the SOI play a somewhat subdued role during the peak of the elections. Another interesting policy shift in the Akali election strategy was a significant departure from its traditional Panthic agenda and relying solely on the development plank. The party extensively highlighted its achievements, both in the print and the electronic media. To counter the same, the Congress went all out to impress upon the public that the Akali claims were either highly exaggerated or that all development was on account of Central funding.
countering PPP propaganda
This forced the Akalis to explain that the state was in sound financial health, as against the damning propaganda by former Akali Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and also state Congress president Amarinder Singh. With their own former Finance Minister certifying state bankruptcy and indebtedness, the Akalis made desperate efforts to keep this idea out of the minds of its voters. The grand old man of Punjab politics, Parkash Singh Badal, may win or lose against his brothers Gurdas Singh and Maheshinder Singh, but the PPP managed to confine the SAD’s star campaigner within his own constituency of Lambi for most of the time during electioneering. This led to the neglect of a large number of constituencies where Badal's presence would have made a difference.
status quo on seats to bjp
Another aspect of the Akali strategy was to maintain status quo regarding the number of seats allocated to the BJP, despite the fact that all reports pointed to the BJP having lost its electoral base substantially. The sacking of some ministers of the BJP just on the eve of the elections, denial of the party ticket to a few of their sitting ministers and the CBI taint against one of the promising BJP candidates should have made the Akali Dal to recalibrate its seat-sharing formula with the BJP. While the Akali Dal fielded some Hindu candidates as part of its new strategy to make a secular statement, the Akali-BJP alliance displayed inflexibility in so far as seat- sharing was concerned. Another aspect of the Akali poll strategy was to rely on its own favourite officers to contest the elections. It fielded its former DGP and former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister as candidates, besides other IAS and PCS officers. The election results alone will prove whether selecting officers as candidates and ignoring the traditional Akalis in the constituencies concerned pays the Akalis or not.
capt as cong’s cm candidate
Coming to the Indian National Congress, it made a landmark departure from its earlier poll practice by declaring its chief ministerial candidate, even before the polling day. Though, in the Congress, the choice of the leader of the Legislature party is conventionally made after the declaration of results through the ritual of elected legislators leaving the final decision to the Congress president, it was different this time. Capt Amarinder Singh was declared the party’s chief ministerial candidate by no less than the all-powerful general secretary of the Congress, Rahul Gandhi. This move was either a mid-course correction by party strategists or an acceptance of the ground reality, but it did blunt the SAD’s propaganda of a divided state Congress, with at least four chief ministerial candidates running independently on their own turf.
betting on youth nominees
Another Congress strategy was the introduction of six to eight candidates from among the youth to blunt the challenge of the PPP, which strived to use the legacy of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and other popular themes for attracting youth voters. The campaign of the youth brigade was personally spearheaded by Rahul Gandhi. Another strategy change by the Congress was its open Dera outreach as against its earlier secular posture. Capt Amarinder Singh visited many of the deras to seek the support of their followers and he wasn’t coy about it. Aggression was also the hallmark of the Congress poll strategy. Against the backdrop of the ruling party using the full might of the government machinery directly or indirectly during the elections, the Congress president electrified the Congress workers and cadre by exhorting them to follow a tit for tat policy. He issued stern warnings to police and civil officials who seemed to take sides with the ruling party during the electoral process. The Congress pushed in their star campaigners such as Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Union Minister Ambika Soni and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, to name a few.
encouraging defections
Another strategy that the Congress followed was to weaken the PPP led by Manpreet Singh Badal by encouraging defections of leaders like Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon, Jagbir Singh Brar and others just before the polls. The Congress strategists apparently felt that a weakened Manpreet was a better option as the PPP had the potential to eat into its youth and anti-Akali votes, besides harming the interests of the Akali Dal. In the process, the Congress blunted the Akali propaganda that the PPP was hand in glove with it. The BJP’s poll strategy was rather baffling. First, the BJP scored a self-goal by axing its own ministers just before the elections and then giving the ticket to some of them.
bjp has voters confused
The removal of the ministers and a Chief Parliamentary Secretary belonging to the BJP nearly coincided with the CBI raid on another BJP Chief Parliamentary Secretary, but the party left the voters confused by offering the ticket to him as well as a former minister holding the second position in the Akali-BJP government, leaving out Laxmi Kanta Chawla and Master Mohan Lal. Winning or losing apart, the electorate remained highly confused about the rationale of the BJP moves. The PPP poll strategy had an economic, a political, a reformist and an emotional agenda. Recently formed, its growth suffered several teething troubles, such as defections, SAD retribution against its founder members and so on. The PPP, indeed, brought a whiff of freshness in Punjab politics. It has made inroads into the hearts of the youth, and the educated electorate in search of a third alternative to the Congress and the Akalis. Its alliance with the Left parties and it's allegiance to the ideology of Shaheed Bhagat Singh enthused all those who want social justice and a life of dignity. However, the PPP appears to be working against the system, against the well-entrenched Congress and the Akalis.
level playing field
The Manpreet Singh Badal-centric PPP election mode made him appear a taller political leader than his cousin Sukhbir Singh Badal, who was seen playing a second fiddle, working for the success of Akali chief ministerial candidate Parkash Singh Badal. Last but not least, the umpire, Election Commission of India, was substantially successful in ensuring a level playing field for all political parties. Some of the preventive as well as curative actions of the commission in Punjab created history of fairness and justice. The ruling Akali-BJP alliance tried to browbeat the ECI officers through complaints and public criticism, but the ECI stood its ground. The awareness campaign of the Election Commission, the air of peaceful law and order because of the presence of a large number of Central forces combined well with the intensely competitive electioneering to achieve a record high turnout of voters all over the state.
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‘Anti-incumbency will see us back in power’
Sipping coffee with his confidant Arvind Khanna and former PPP leader Kushaldeep Dhillon, he gave the feeling of a battle well won. In the backdrop of famous paintings of Allah Baksh, a reproduction of those at the new Moti Bagh Palace in Patiala, Amarinder says: “I don’t agree with you people when you say there is no wave”. He says it is true that people were first hesitant to express their feelings openly. “That was because they were afraid of Bikram (Majithia) and Sukhbir (Badal)”. He claims there was a surge in favour of the Congress in the last five days of campaigning, pointing out that ‘satta’ market had also given the party 63 - 64 seats. “The assessment of these guys is rarely wrong”, he observes. Amarinder says the Akalis are miscalculating the strength of the BJP and the saffron party “is not likely to get more than four seats - two seats in Amritsar (Navjot Kaur Sidhu and Anil Joshi) and one seat in Sujanpur (Dinesh Singh). The Congress will win 32 seats in Majha and Doaba and around 40 in Malwa.” Rebuffs suggestions that there could be a hung assembly, Amarinder says the party has done well in the Malwa that has 68 seats. He claims the party will get near 100 per cent Dera Sachha Sauda votes. “South Malwa will go to the Congress.” Asked to point out a single factor which could win him the elections, he says it was the party’s strategy to engage the youth in view of the 12 to 13 per cent increase in the youth votes and 18 lakh youngsters voting for the first time. Amarinder feels the SAD-BJP development plank did not work in the end. “The SAD-BJP combine kept harping on development but had no answer as to why the law and order machinery had broken down completely during its rule. This created an anti-incumbency sentiment”, he says. Amarinder is now set to move to Uttar Pradesh. “The party wants me there,” he explains, adding that his trip to his farmhouse in Dochi in Himachal to rev up his energy levels may be delayed.
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‘SAD headed for clean sweep; EC was partial’
There are strict instructions he not be disturbed for next two days, but repeated phone calls force him out of the slumber and he answers the call. What’s Sukhbir’s post-poll analysis of the heavy turnout? The election has shown a pro-development positive vote, the SAD is confident to form the next government, he claims. “We are headed for a clean sweep. Now, the polls are over, you can mark my words and everyone will believe me on March 6”. What makes him so optimistic? The results from Malwa decide who forms the government and the SAD, he feels, would see major gains in this core belt. He claims the SAD-BJP alliance would win all nine seats in Bathinda district, all four in Muktsar, all the three in Faridkot and at least four of the six in Ferozepur. “I will win Jalalabad by over 70,000 votes,” he claims, saying the heavy turnout shows “charged up Akali supporters who have voted to keep Congress out”. “If the cadres are demoralised, then the polling is generally low, you can see the poll percentages, they are the highest in the SAD-dominated constituencies…. Lambi will be a cakewalk”. Going by the predictions of the Deputy Chief Minister, several Congress heavyweights are likely to tumble. He doesn’t hesitate to name them. “Congress stalwarts like (Rajinder Kaur) Bhattal, Lal Singh, Avtar Brar, Harminder Jassi, Samra etc will lick the dust,” he declares with confidence. How can he be so confident of a landslide when the Congress in making similar claims? The SAD strategy, he says, was to consolidate the traditional base with emphasis on heritage and to create a strong constituency in the youth with a modern and futuristic agenda, focusing also on high-end tech vision. It was development and performance that was repeated everywhere. Sukhbir, however, is critical of the Election Commission’s role. “The lady in the seat worked as a Congress agent. She blatantly ignored our complaints and let officers like Mustafa remain in his wife’s constituency on grounds of illness, which he was feigning…but it won’t help”.
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‘Poll results will boost PPP workers’ morale’
“I can say with certainty that after the poll outcome, the People’s Party of Punjab activists and supporters will move with their head high. The PPP will not be disgraced in these election”, claims Manpreet Singh Badal, PPP chief. Exuding confidence and appearing joyous, he says the voter response to the party has been overwhelming. “We had not expected the kind of response we got in the countryside”, he says when asked to give his assessment of the party performance. Any plans to unwind himself? “No, no,” he says emphatically. “ With my son and daughter back home from school in March, I will, in fact, be rewinding myself”, he says with a laugh. “I am to reach Delhi tomorrow for laser surgery on a cyst in my throat. Doctors have told me that I will be discharged from hospital in a week’s time. They say it is not malignant. After that, I will be back in action”. Manpreet says his party, being woefully short of funds, was unable to advertise or propagate its agenda. There was also lack of organisational structure to handle various tasks. “Otherwise, of course, it has been a great experience for a party of beginners”, he says. On the number of seats his party could win, he says he is hopeful of winning at least 20 seats and giving a tough fight on another 20. “Our lightweight boxers fought against heavyweight boxers of rival parties”, he says to elaborate the point. Manpreet says though there is no quick-fix to various problems facing the Punjabis, “I am committed to honouring the promises made to the people. I will not betray all those who have reposed faith in me and supported my cause”. Turning to Urdu poetry, he says: “Hayar (dunia) se keun khafa rahen, charakh se kaun gila karen, sara jahan adhu sahi, aau mukabala karen (Why be angry with the world, why lodge a protest with God, let the entire world turn hostile, let us confront the enemy). Manpreet Badal says his mission is to free politics from the clutches of a few families and hand over power back to the common man.
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Day after polling, all quiet at CM’s house
An aide of the family claimed that after meeting party workers at his house this morning, the CM visited Channu, Chhateana, Alamwala and Mehna villages. “Thereafter, Badal Sahab attended the funeral of a relative in Odhan village in Haryana and then left for his Balasar farmhouse,” he said.
Maheshinder’s house full of supporters
There was a stream of supporters at Congress candidate Maheshinder Singh Badal’s house throughout the day. Maheshinder was seen sitting amid his well-wishers, attending calls. Maheshinder said he had no plans to go anywhere in the coming days. Asked if he was anxious about the poll result, he said: “We have been preparing lists of votes polled in my favour and so far the results look very positive. But we will have to wait till March 6.”
Gurdas, Manpreet
visits various villages
Gurdas Singh Badal, PPP candidate and younger brother of the CM, was seen visiting various areas. Taking rest at a worker’s house this afternoon, Gurdas said: “As I was a bit relaxed day, I washed my hair almost after a fortnight. Then along with Manpreet, I met party workers at our farmhouse on the outskirts of Badal village. Since morning, I have been visiting various villages. Now, I am here to enquire about the health of a colleague. “I have no plans to leave the constituency. I will go on a thanksgiving tour in a day or two.” He said he would always remain accessible to the public at his old house in Badal village.
Raninder organises lunch for supporters
Congress candidate from Samana constituency Raninder Singh decided to spend the day with his supporters who had come from various parts of the state for his poll campaign. “After attending a bhog ceremony, I organised a lunch for my loyalists who worked day and night till the elections. I want to relax for a few days and spend time with my family,” he said.
Kohli catches up
on his sleep
SAD candidate from Patiala City Surjit Singh Kohli, who contested against PPCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh, said he spent a part of the day catching up on sleep. “In the past two months, my schedule was very hectic. Starting from dawn till late night, I was busy meeting people and got very little time to relax. But, I am feeling totally refreshed now,” he added.
Mohindra spends time with family
Congress candidate from Patiala Rural Brahm Mohindra, meanwhile, spent his day with his wife and sons. He said, “In the past few months, I didn’t get much time to sit back and relax.Today, I attended two private functions till the afternoon and then played chess with my sons. They both are law students and are also very busy but we decided to catch up for a few games of chess to spend some quality time with each other.”
Surjit Rakhra sticks
to routine
However, SAD candidate from Samana, Surjeet Singh Rakhra stuck to his usual routine. He said as he had been working in the constituency for the past couple of years, he did not have to slog too much in the last few months. He said, “I am fresh as always and am just waiting for March 6 to celebrate.” “Party workers and supporters kept pouring in throughout the day for a feedback and we did not even realise when the day came to an end,” said Hardyal Kamboj, Kuldeep Kaur Tohra (SAD) and Vaninder Kaur
Loomba.
Jagir Kaur spends day with supporters
Former SGPC chief and SAD candidate from Bholath Bibi Jagir Kaur said she remained busy throughout the day in discussions with her supporters about the poll outcome. “I could not afford to go anywhere as I and my supporters remained engrossed in making calculations about votes in all of 150 booths in my constituency.” said Jagir
Kaur. (Contributed by Gagan K. Teja in Patiala and Varinder Singh in Jalandhar)
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Tension in Malerkotla
Mandi Ahmedgarh/Malerkotla, January 31 The protesters stopped a bus on way to Delhi. As the terrified passengers rushed out, they threw stones at the bus, injuring at least five persons. Bus driver Harjinder Singh said the passengers left their luggage behind in sheer panic. He said his arm was fractured when a stone hit him. The injured passengers were admitted to a private hospital in the town. Sangrur SP (D) Paramjit Singh Gorayan reached Malerkotla with a heavy police force. To defuse tension, the police held a flag march in the town. Apprehending curfew in the town, shopkeepers closed their establishments and residents rushed to markets to buy vegetables, milk and other essential items. Darbara Singh alias Bawa of Kilahans village, Manjit Singh of Zirakh, Jagjit Singh of Ghaloti and an unidentified person were booked under Sections 295 and 120B of the IPC for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. Commissioner of Police Gurpreet Singh Sikand said Bashir Mohammad, a nomad settled on the banks of the Sirhind canal near Khatra village, had told the Dehlon police that he had seen four persons trying to keep themselves warm by burning paper , which now seemed to be pages from the holy Quran. Sikand said, acting on the information, the police nabbed one Darbara Singh. Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects had brought some books at subsidised rates from a religious place a few weeks ago. Sources said the suspects were not aware of the contents as the books were written in the Arabic language. As news of the incident spread, activists of radical Muslim organisations from nearby Mandi Ahmedgarh and Malerkotla started gathering at Khatra and Dehlon villages in the afternoon. However, timely action by the police and religious leaders prevented the situation from going out of control.
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EVMs under strict vigil
Chandigarh, January 31 As many as 19,841 EVMs that recorded the decision of the electors of choosing the next candidates in 117 assembly segments have been kept in 117 strong rooms in 56 buildings across the state. Manned by three-tier-security comprising an inner cordon of central paramilitary forces, outer cordon of Punjab Armed Police personnel and patrol parties of the Punjab Police, these EVMs have been kept securely away from light so that the data stored in these machines does not get affected till the time the poll results are out. About 2,000 paramilitary personnel man the EVMs in three shifts over all 117 strong rooms in the state. “Five personnel of central forces are deployed right outside the 117-strong rooms in three shifts of eight hours each. The outer cordon is provided by the PAP personnel deployed at the gate of the building,” said a senior police official. After the completion of voting process yesterday, the returning officers (ROs) of each constituency were entrusted with the task of storing the EVMs in strong rooms in each district. The EVMs were transported in the trucks escorted by paramilitary and police personnel. In certain constituencies where the polling took place at a distance of several
kilometres, the work of storing EVMs continued well past midnight. “Our ROs from distant constituencies like Khanna finished the task around 1 am,” said Ludhiana District Election Officer Rahul
Tiwari. The strong room of Khanna constituency is located in Ludhiana.
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1,000 voters ‘reject’ all candidates
Chandigarh, January 31 While the State Election Commission is yet to compile the data of the total number of voters who exercised this option, a Punjab based NGO Internationalist Democratic Party puts the number of such voters at 500 in Nabha alone. The NGO led by Gurmeet Singh Sohi had started an awareness campaign all over the state motivating the voters to use their right to reject candidates, if they were not convinced about their capabilities and performance. A spokesperson of the NGO said voters from
Fazilka, Mansa, Bathinda, Sangrur, Sunam, Samana, Garhshankar and
Kapurthala, exercised this option. In Ageti village in Nabha, over 50 residents rejected all the candidates. Similar reports were obtained from Narata Colony, Ajaib Colony, Sant
Nagar, Ekta Colony and Vishwakarma Nagar in Nabha, claimed the spokesperson. “There is a growing resentment against the candidates among the voters in Punjab. During discussions, a common sentiment that came to our notice was that voters do not want to elect any candidate. We advised them to use this option and we got a good response,” said
Sohi.
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Manpreet’s surgery today
Manpreet was finding it difficult to deliver speeches during campaigning due to an unusual growth in his throat. But, he refused to go in for a surgery till the elections were over. Manpreet’s father Gurdas Singh Badal said, “As the doctors have advised Manpreet to get a surgery done immediately, he has left for Chandigarh, from where he will go to Delhi.” He said Manpreet was having a sore throat and had a muffled voice for almost two months. Manpreet had earlier said, “The unusual growth happened because I have been very harsh on my throat for the past 15 months.”
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Political parties lack clarity on sports policy
While the political parties gave due representation to sports in their election manifestos, none has a concrete agenda on how to promote it. Despite admitting time and again that unemployment was the main reason behind youth falling prey to drugs, in the past one decade, the successive Punjab Governments have not made any effort to generate jobs in the state. Though in the past five years, the
SAD-BJP alliance has provided jobs to various sportspersons, there are many who are shifting to other states in search of jobs. They feel that the government is yet to implement a proper sports policy, through which it should not only provide sports infrastructure and better facilities but also ensure that all talented sportspersons are absorbed within the state so that performance of the state goes up during various tournaments.
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So the task for the Akali Dal and the Congress was well cut out. The Akali Dal was looking for major gains in Malwa, while hoping that its ally would retain its seats in the urban areas of Majha and Doaba. And the Congress, while looking for major gains in Doaba and Majha on account of anti-incumbency, was aiming to retain its seats in Malwa. However, delimitation and emergence of the Manpreet Singh Badal-led Peoples Party of Punjab (PPP) added a new twist to the polls, forcing the parties to alter strategies, even till the last day of campaigning.
Chandigarh, January 31
Chandigarh, January 31
Chandigarh, January 31
Badal (Lambi), January 31
Lambi (Muktsar), January 31
Patiala, January 31