Free fall for CPM in Nandigram

The panchayat polls had indicated,for the first time in decades,a shifting support base of the Left following the proposed land acquisition and later the police firing in March 2007 that claimed 14 lives. Subsequently,in the January 2009 Assembly by-elections in Nandigram,Trinamool candidate Frioza Bibi — the mother of a firing victim— had polled 93,022 votes,defeating CPI candidate Paramanda Bharati by the margin of 39,551 votes.

 The LS results show the Left has not been able to woo back its support base. Seth secured around 50,000 votes in Nandigram Assembly segment,less than what Bharti had got in the by-polls. In comparison,Adhikary polled 1,05,000 votes in the area,nearly 13,000 more than Frioza Bibi had got.

Adhikary,hence,managed a lead of nearly 54,000 votes from Nandigram Assembly segment over Seth.

 In panchayat polls,the Trinamool had secured nearly 81,000 votes in Nandigram and captured three out of four Zilla Parisad seats,defeating the Left candidates. The Left’s share in rural polls was 69,000 votes,which dipped to 51,000 in the LS elections.

 Ashoke Bera,CPM district committee member of East Midanpore,said this time the party could not put up agents in 58 booths in Nandigram(I). The Trinamool had terrorised villages in the area,following which the Left voters could not turn up at the booths,said Bera. The EC turned down the demand for re-polling at these booths. He claimed that Seth got very few votes in these 58 booths in Nandigram,which shot the Trinamool’s margin.

 Adhikari refuted the charges and said Central forces were deployed at each polling station and voters cast their vote peacefully. Many traditional voters of the Left polled in his favour as they did not like the CPM candidate,hence the Left’s vote share has gone down with successive polls,he added.