Rise of Independents
Posted by barunroy on May 17, 2008
Siliguri, May 16: The dismal performance of panchayat representatives of different political parties in the Jalpaiguri district over the past five years has resulted in an increase in the number of independent candidates in this year’s rural polls.
Last time, around 500 Independents, including those owing allegiance to parties like the CPI-ML, KPP and the SUCI, had contested in the three-tier panchayat polls in the district. This year, the number is 768.
“Around 400 of them are either members of some political party or dummy candidates contesting as Independents. The remaining, however, are people who are not usually associated with politics. They include people with different occupations and even housewives,” a senior official of the Jalpaiguri district administration said.
The trend is prevalent in the tea belt of the Dooars. Sitamoni Oraon, who runs a group called Mahila Jagriti in Damdim-Bagrakote near Malbazar, said: “Many of our members have filed nominations as Independents. The elected panchayats ruled by political parties have implemented very few development projects in our villages. If elected, we will sit with villagers and chalk out plans to work for them.”
In the closed Ramjhora Tea Estate, 30-year-old Aruna Ghatal is in the race for a panchayat seat as an independent candidate. “Many people in our garden are not ready to buy the stories of political leaders because in the past five years, the garden’s condition has deteriorated,” she said. “So we have filed nominations to work for our the people.”
In Jalpaiguri Sadar block, a similar trend can be seen in Kadobari, Berubari and Paharpur village panchayats.
Some political leaders are not ready to read too much into the matter.
“We have lived up to the expectations of the people. Our candidates work according to a specific development plan and stand by the people all through the year,” said Chanu Dey, the Malbazar zonal committee secretary of the CPM. “We expect better results in all three tiers this time.” [The Telegraph]
This entry was posted on May 17, 2008 at 9:04 am and is filed under In Newspapers Today. Tagged: bagrakote, berubari, cpi ml, cpm, damdim, dooars, jalpaiguri district, jalpaiguri district administration, jalpaiguri sadar block, kadobari, kpp, malbazar, malbazar zonal committee secretary, paharpur, panchayat, panchayat elections, political parties, ramjhora tea estate, siliguri, suci, three tier panchayat polls. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
