Assembly polls in Tripura on Feb 14; Meghalaya, Nagaland on Feb 23

NEW DELHI: Assembly elections in Tripura will be held on February 14 and in Meghalaya and Nagaland on February 23 and their results will be out on February 28, the Election Commission announced today. 

The EC also announced byelections to nine assembly constituencies in Mizoram, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Punjab on February 23 and in Assam, Bihar and Maharashtra on February 24, but their results will be out together on February 28. 

Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath said with the announcement of schedule for the two-phase poll in the north- eastern states and bypolls in various states, the Model Code of Conduct will be in operation with immediate effect and EC will keep a strict vigil on any violation of the code. 

He said electronic voting machines will be used in elections to the three north-eastern states as well as in bye- elections in the seven states. 

"The Commission will deploy general observers in adequate number to ensure smooth conduct of elections and appoint adequate number of expenditure observers and assistant expenditure observers to exclusively monitor election expenditure of contesting candidates," the CEC said. 

The notification for Tripura elections will be issued on January 21 and for Meghalaya and Nagaland on January 30. All the three state assemblies have 60 seats each. While 10 are reserved for SCs and 20 for STs in Tripura, 55 assembly seats are reserved for STs in Meghalaya and 59 in Nagaland. 

According to the poll schedule, the last date for filing of nominations in Tripura is January 28 and after scrutiny the next day, the last date for withdrawal of candidatures is January 31. 

For Meghalaya and Nagaland, the last date for filing of nominations is February 6 and after scrutiny the next day, the last date for withdrawal is February 9. 

Centre is not generous to us, Tripura CM says

AGARTALA: Manik Sarkar is running for the fourth successive term as the chief minister of one of the poorest states in the country. His frustration is aimed at the Centre for not being "generous" to Tripura. 

"Ours is a poor state, but the Centre cannot shirk away from its responsibilities. The very concept of Centre's contribution is flawed. It is the responsibility of the Centre under the quasi-federal structure to aid every state. The Centre is not generous to us. I don't know the reason," Sarkar told TOI on Tuesday. 

The 64-year-old CPM leader, who doesn't own a house or a car and is probably the poorest chief minister in the country, vows to continue his struggle for the state's development. He intends to make Tripura a self-sufficient economy by promoting industry and setting up markets. 

Sarkar, who hopes to retain power this time also, has chalked out a roadmap for economic development of the state in the next five years. "My approach in the next five years would be to get investors to set up units based on raw materials available here as well as to set up markets for the products in the state. This will also generate employment," Sarkar said. 

He finds solace in the fact that Tripura, though financially weak, is financially disciplined. Sarkar said, "Our economy may be weak but we have high standard of financial discipline. Our per capita income at current prices in the 10th plan was Rs 29,081, which increased to Rs 50,000 in 2011-12." 

Tripura has surplus power, but no industries. It has an abundant reserve of natural gas that has not been tapped, but there aren't enough jobs. "Our state has surplus power, but the Centre has failed to evacuate the excess power. We have proposed selling power from our share to Bangladesh, which is deficit in power. The Centre has not responded to our proposal yet for reasons best known to it," Sarkar said. 

Tripura is landlocked by Bangladesh on three fronts and by Mizoram and a part of Assam on the eastern boundary. More than 50% of the state's population depends on agriculture. According to the state economic review 2010-11, it is the second largest producer of natural rubber after Kerala.

For a long time, Tripura was dogged by militancy. "The militants have been isolated. They do not have any hideouts within the state now," he said.

Poll duty keeps vehicles off roads in Tripura

AGARTALA: Roads in Tripura wore a deserted look on Tuesday with most of the vehicles meant for public transport staying off roads as they have been hired by the state election authorities to bring security forces from Guwahati railway station. 

Assam government had initially agreed to provide vehicles for transporting central paramilitary forces to poll-bound Tripura but later refused citing administrative reasons. 

This has left more than 15,000 security personnel of CRPF, CSIF, ITBPand SSB stuck at Guwahati station. 

Tripura government, in order to remedy the situation, began hiring vehicles on urgent basis and even school buses, ambulances and personal cars were not spared. This has left the common people of the state in a lurch and increased passenger woes. 

According to reports, about 1,500 vehicles of different categories are needed to bring the estimated force of 259 companies to the poll-bound state, but Assam's refusal put the department in trouble.

Tribal support keeps Left going in Tripura

AGARTALA: The first thought about the February 14 assembly polls inTripura is whether the Left's outstanding run in the state will continue. Since attaining statehood in 1972, Tripura has got six Left Front governments from eight elections. Four of those mandates came in succession. 

The key reason for the Left's success is its stranglehold on rural Tripura, which comprises 83% of the state's total area. These are largely tribal areas with poor basic amenities of health, education, drinking water and infrastructure. Tribals constitute 31% of the state's 36.71 lakh population. Tripuri, the biggest tribal group, makes up about 54% of the tribal population. There are 19 other groups, including the Reangs, Jamatias, Chakmas, Halams and Mogs. 

CPM state secretary and central committee member Bijon Dhar believes that the Left can consolidate its position further in the rural belt and will win the polls with an even bigger margin this time. "Our rural base was not built in a day," Dhar says. "It took a long struggle, starting with the education movement in 1945. Then came the movement for democratic rule by the ballot. It was during the movement for people's education under Dasharath Deb that our base started expanding from 1950." 

Statistics show the Left Front's dominant performance in tribal areas: in the 2008 assembly elections, it won 19 out of 20 seats reserved for scheduled tribes; in the 2010 polls to the Autonomous District Council for the tribals, the Left swept all the 28 seats; in the 2011 elections, it won 472 of the 527 village committees seats in the tribal areas. 

But there has also been opposition from the tribals — in the form of militancy. "Tribal disturbances have been engineered by the Congress," says Dhar. "The Left has been pro-tribal. Whenever there was a rift between tribals and non-tribals, the Congress gained. There were riots during the Left rule in 1979; there was bloodshed again in 1980, with the militants joining in." 

Rights activist and director of the Asian Centre for Human Rights, Suhas Chakma, agrees that tribals form the base for the Left in Tripura. But how much the tribals have benefited as a result is a different question. "The Congress, despite having an election alliance with a tribal group like the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra, has not been able to come up with any alternative for the tribals." So, next month's polls could well go according to the script so far in the state. 

Advantage Left 

The Left has formed six of the eight governments in Tripura 

1972 Congress 

1977 Left Front 

1983 Left Front 

1988 Congress 

1993 Left Front 

1998 Left Front 

2003 Left Front 

2008 Left Front