Mixed reactions to EC decision on Sujapur

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Dec. 24: The Election Commission's decision to defer the by-election in Sujapur Assembly constituency has received mixed reactions from not only the Congress and the CPI-M, but also the district administration.

Though the Congress leaders are partly pleased with the decision for Central Para Military Force deployment at almost all hypersensitive booths, they were upset after facing difficulties to keep the election campaigning going for an extra week.

The vice president of the Malda Congress, Mr Masidur Rahman said: “We are happy that the commission has considered deployment of adequate CPMF according to our appeal but unhappy with the sudden decision because it is tough to keep up the election tempo which was up to the mark for victory”.

The EC has deferred the by-polls to 5 January from 27 December.

On the other hand, both the Congress and CPI-M camps are worried about the number of voters in Sujapur, working as migrant labourers in different states, who are returning to their work places with labour contractors according to their commitment before the elections.

Migrant labourers had returned to Sujapur to celebrate Id and had decided to cast their votes on 27 December before leaving for their work places. About 25,000 such migrant labourers will have to go to their destination before 5 January, political leaders said.

The CPI-M district secretary, Mr JIban Moitra, said: “In West Bengal the situation is not so bad that the CPMF is needed to conduct by-polls. We are unhappy with the EC's decision because it did not consider the plan of thousands of migrant labourers. They would not stay at home till 5 January. We fear the percentage of votes will drop”.

The Congress district president and Malda MP has also told reporters: “It will be a problem to keep up the momentum of our workers and voters but we are not upset because the commission has considered our demands and decided to deploy adequate CPMF in Sujapur”.

Malda district magistrate, Mr Sridhar Ghosh, likened his disappointment to that of a student who has studied before an exam.

“Preparation for the examination (preparation to conduct by-polls) was up to the mark. Suddenly the date of exam has been deferred. We are upset like a student after EC's decision,” he said.

Mr Ghosh said all 123 polling stations have been declared as sensitive. Out of these, some booths have been identified as hypersensitive. A total of 40 micro-observers have been appointed to conduct by-polls in Sujapur.

The Malda police have sought seven companies of CPMF for nearly 100 polling stations.