Bengal: Voter turnout in 4th phase above 87%

KOLKATA: Ballot, and not the bullet, won in the fourth phase of polls in West Bengal despite complaints of terror and intimidation. The average polling percentage in Howrah, Hooghly, East Midnapore and 13 seats in Burdwan is expected to cross 87%, up by 4% from the tally in past elections. Polling was held in 63 seats in this phase.

The Election Commission scored points on Tuesday. People who used to be locked up in highrises of Howrah or in remote villages of Hooghly and East Midnapore in earlier Assembly polls came out to vote. The polling percentage rose a few notches above the average polling in the past in these districts.

Voter turnout in East Midnapore was 89.40%. It could go above the 89% mark in recorded in the previous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Unlike in the past, Trinamool Congress could depute polling agents in all the booths in the CPM-dominated Arambagh belt in Hooghly. The CPM though could not field polling agents in 40 booths in Nandigram. In East Midnapore's Khejuri, another flashpoint, though they deputed polling agents in all booths.

Flashpoints from Burdwan's Mangalkote to Hooghly's Khanakul remained peaceful on poll day due to EC's elaborate security arrangement.

The surge in voter turnout has kept political parties on their tenterhooks. CPM leaders were worried even in places where the CPM had a comfortable lead in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

CPM polling agents chased Trinamool candidate and retired IPS officer Rachpal Singh from a polling station in Hooghly's Tarakeswar. CPM activists lodged an FIR against Trinamool heavyweight and retired IPS officer Sultan Singh in Howrah's Bally. Trinamool polling agent Sheikh Daru Salam was arrested from a polling booth in Nandigram. Seven presiding officers and four polling officers were changed following complaints of bias or due to illness.

Voters were firm though. Seventy five families in Singur's Joymollah, for instance, announced while going to the polling booth that they would vote for industry. Joymollah is a Trinamool bastion despite the exit of Tata Motors.

Whatever the result in the four Assembly seats in Arambagh, Goghat, Pursura and Khanakul, Trinamool activists have a reason to be happy. "This is the first time the Opposition could field polling agents in booths here," said Trinamool supporter Sanjib Biswas.

Left Front chairman Biman Bose, however, won't give the EC a clean chit. "Some criminals wanted by the police were campaigning for the Trinamool Congress in Nandigram. The EC did not take any step against them even after we submitted complaints. One such person arrested from a Nandigram polling booth on Tuesday vindicates us," Bose said.

Poll pundits are analysing the outcome of this increased voter turnout. Some chose to go with the popular belief that it went in Trinamool's favour. CPM leaders attributed the high turn out as a result of the high-voltage election campaign. According to them, both parties mobilised their supporters at polling booths like never before.

But there were voters in parts of Howrah, Hooghly and East Midnapore, who could not vote in past elections out of fear. They will most likely vote against perpetrators of violence.

Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee said people won't let her down. She believed her tally would get a massive push in the fourth phase. CPM leaders in Burdwan sounded equally confident, despite the Opposition making major dents in Burdwan (South), Kalna, Purbasthali, Katwa and Mangalkote. Seven ministers in the fray ^ Nirupam Sen, Naren De, Sudarshan Roy Chowdhury, Soumendranath Bera, Mohanto Chatterjee, Pratim Chatterjee, Chakradhar Maikup ^ are having a tough time. Bera, a CPM candidate contesting from the red bastion of Pursura in Hooghly, complained against Trinamool activists. The complaint indicates there are surprises in store in this phase.

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Search for Arunachal chief minister enters fifth day

ITANAGAR: Six Indian Air Force helicopters on Wednesday began an aerial survey along the dizzy heights of Sela Pass in Arunachal Pradesh even as the search by more than 4,000 army, paramilitary troopers, and civilians for the missing chopper carrying chief minister Dorjee Khandu entered its fifth day.

"Efforts are on but so far we have not got any definite clues about the missing helicopter," Arunachal Pradesh Home Minister Tako Dabi told IANS.

Six helicopters - two each of the Mi-17, Cheetah, and Cheetak - took off from bases in Tawang and Tezpur in Assam at 5.05 a.m. Wednesday for rescue and search mission, IAF spokesperson Ranjeeb Sahoo said.

The Pawan Hans AS350 B-3 helicopter carrying the chief minister and four others went missing after it took off from Tawang at 9.50 a.m. Saturday. The last radio contact with the ground was about 20 minutes after take off as it flew over the Sela Pass along the Chinese border perched at an altitude of 13,700 feet.

Authorities had identified seven probable locations -- six in Arunachal and one inside Bhutan, based on satellite images by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

Rescue teams failed to get any clues or debris in two of the seven probable locations.

"Heavy snowfall and rains, coupled with poor visibility has been greatly hampering the rescue operation with the troops unable to venture with speed," the minister said.

"One probable location is Nagarjiji in West Kameng district and another site is in Potujiji in Bhutan side. Efforts are on by rescue teams to reach the two locations soon."

Meanwhile, 38 commandos of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have also been pressed into service.

Arunachal Pradesh MP Takam Sanjay, leading the search and rescue operation in the West Kameng district, said they have sought an additional 2,000 army soldiers for the search mission.

"The area is rugged and vast and hence we need 2,000 more army soldiers and a request to this effect has already been sent to the central government," Sanjay said.

With the search yielding no results, locals are getting restive and are planning holding protest meetings to demonstrate their anger against the central government.

"If India is not capable of tracing the helicopter, they should not hesitate to take China's help so that we could get technological support from them in locating the chopper," said Takam Tatung, president of the All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union.

Beijing in 2003 gave up its territorial claim over the Indian state of Sikkim but still holds on to its stand that nearly all of Arunachal Pradesh belongs to it.

The mountainous state of Arunachal Pradesh shares a 1,030 km unfenced border with China with the two countries fighting a bitter border war in 1962 with Chinese troops advancing half way into the northeastern state.

"It is a shame on the Indian government that they were unable to locate the helicopter even after four days. Now with Osama Laden's death, the entire Indian government is busy giving reactions and have simply forgotten about our chief minister," said Likha Maj, an angry community leader .

Meanwhile, the Arunachal Pradesh government announced a cash reward of Rs.1 million to anyone who could provide information about the missing helicopter.


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Peaceful voting in fourth round of West Bengal polls

KOLKATA: Singur and Nandigram voted peacefully on Tuesday as 58% polling was recorded till 1 pm in the fourth phase of West Bengal assembly elections for 63 constituencies spread over four districts.

Elections are being held in three districts - Howrah, Hooghly and East Midnapore - and parts of Burdwan, with an electorate of around 1.26 crore set to choose representatives from among 366 candidates.

Hooghly has 18 seats, Howrah and East Midnapore 16 each. Voting is being held in 13 of the 25 seats in Burdwan district.

Crucial rural belts like Hooghly district's Singur and Nandigram in East Midnapore saw high polling with no report of any violence.

There was a vote boycott in two booths of Amta in Howrah district over local issues.

"Till 1 pm, 58% polling was recorded," Additional Chief Electoral Officer NK Sahana said. Voting began at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm.

"At least 54 electronic voting machines had to be replaced after they developed mechanical snags," Sahana said.

Two presiding officers - one in the Arambagh area of Hooghly district and another in Burdwan - were removed following allegations of partiality, he said.

A Trinamool Congress polling agent was arrested when he arrived at a polling booth in East Midnapore district as he had a pending non-bailable warrant against him, an official said.

"Voting is on peacefully. There are no reports of any untoward incidents," said an official at the state police control room here.

There are 15,711 polling booths out of which about 5,000 have been declared super sensitive.

Among the star candidates in the fray Tuesday are state industries minister Nirupam Sen, agriculture minister Naren Dey, higher education minister Sudarshan Roy Chowdhury, information and culture minister Soumendranath Bera and fire and emergency services minister Pratim Chatterjee.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) is contesting from 46 constituencies, the Communist Party of India (CPI) six, Trinamool Congress 59, Congress four, Forward Bloc seven, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 63.

Singur had witnessed violent protests by the Trinamool-led opposition between 2006 and 2008, as they encashed on the peasants' resentment against land acquired by the state government for Tata Motors' Nano small car project. The company later shifted the plant to Gujarat.

In Nandigram likewise, the government's abortive bid to set up a chemical hub had triggered violence.

In the first three phases of elections, polling was conducted in 12 districts covering 179 of the state's 294 assembly seats.

The six-phased polls for the 294-member assembly, which started April 18, will end May 10. The counting of votes will be held May 13.

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Jairam Ramesh clears Posco project

NEW DELHI: The Rs 54,000 crore Posco integrated steel plant got the final clearance from Union environment and forests ministry on Monday. Jairam Ramesh gave the nod for the pending forest clearance to the state government, paving the way for the Korean steel giant to acquire the forest land required for the project.

In January, Ramesh had put one last condition before the state government to acquire the forest land. He had asked for an assurance from the state that no rights of people existed on the land under the Forest Rights Act. The state sent its assurance but Ramesh, having received evidence to the contrary, asked the Naveen Patnaik government to come back again with clarity.

The state government wrote back to the Centre on April 29 claiming that the resolutions of the two villages – Govindpur and Dhinkia -- opposing the plant and claiming community rights over the forests were illegal. Ramesh moved quickly to decide in favour of the state government, dismissing the village resolutions that he had a copy of.

For long under pressure from the PMO on the project, passing the order in favour of the state government, Ramesh noted, "Faith and trust in what the state government says is an essential pillar of cooperative federalism." He decided to pass the buck for adhering to the Forest Rights Act to the state saying, "The primary responsibility for implementing the Forest Rights Act is that of the state government."

Ramesh had earlier bent backwards to accommodate the project by rejecting the recommendations of three of his own committees, including a statutory one. All three had recommended that the provisions of FRA had not been followed and that the project should be rejected. Orissa, on the other hand, continued to claim that no one had rights over the land it wanted to hand over to Posco. Ramesh discarded his own directive which required village councils to pass resolutions in favour of the project when the state government was unable to furnish them.

Attempting to pre-empt criticism over his bending rules and regulations, Ramesh said, "The implementation of both the FRA and the August 2009 guideline is a learning and evolving process since we are still in largely unchartered territory." The August 2009 order by Ramesh made it mandatory for the state government to submit village resolutions in favour of the project that Orissa failed to.

In his order, Ramesh said, "I would expect that the revised MOU between the state and Posco would be negotiated in such a manner that exports of raw material are completely avoided."

Suggesting that an understanding had been built between the Centre, state and the Korean company on the issue, Posco India vice-president Vikas Sharan reportedly told agencies on Monday, "There were no plans for export of iron ore from the project and now also we do not intend to do any exports."

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