Murder or victory of democracy?

And the Akali Dal Government in the state is under fire for messing up these elections with alleged illegalities and misuse of the official machinery at an unprecedented scale in these elections.

In the process, the State Election Commission came into confrontation with the state government on the issue of suspension of several officials concerned with the election process. The state government initiated action against these officials only after much heat was generated.

The opposition parties staged dharnas at the state headquarters against the misuse of official machinery and interference by the government during the nominations. It was again for the first time that the opposition took to streets in the panchayat elections. Even the intervention of the state Election Commission was sought.

The earlier panchayat polls were held during the Congress regime headed by Beant Singh who used these elections to get legitimacy for his government which had come into power with minority votes in the backdrop of boycott by the Akalis at the behest of the militants. Even at that time, the government saw to it that “undesirable elements” were not allowed to contest but the modus operandi then resorted to did not invite much objections.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal described these elections as victory of democracy and thanked the people and the administration for free and fair elections. However, the perception of the opposition is different.

“It is murder of democracy. The Akali Dal government violated all the norms and resorted to intimidation and misuse of official machinery”, said Dr. Joginder Dayal, state secretary of the Communist Party of India while articulating the views of the opposition. It is being alleged that the nominations of a number of candidates were rejected arbitrarily.

However, this view is not shared by the Akalis. “In 60 per cent of the cases, the contest was among the Akali candidates themselves”, said a senior minister while preferring anonymity.

However, feeling goes in a section of the Akali Dal that the interference in the elections would only alienate the party. “Those in power seem to be guided by the death wish at the political level going by their behaviour”, commented a senior Akali leader whose relative was opposed by the candidate supported by a minister.

Again it was for the first time that about one lakh police personnel, home guards and special police officers were deployed for duty in the panchayat polls.

The claims and counter claims by the party in power and the opposition would continue for some time about the poll outcome. But the panchayat elections has brought about a qualitative change in the political scenario in the state, especially in case of the opposition parties.

“Through these elections, we have demonstrated how the opposition can unite to confront the communal forces at the national level”, said Pradesh Congress Committee chief Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.

It was during the last Vidhan Sabha elections in the state that the a front started taking shape to confront the Akali Dal – BJP combine but at that time, only the Congress and the CPI joined hands. In the panchayat elections, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has also joined the “like minded parties”, along with other parties. “We have sown the seeds of a secular front”, commented a senior Leftist leader saying this was the major gain of the opposition.

Whatever might be the criticism of the poll process, repolling has been ordered in only 112 out of 12,375 panchayats. According to Kahlon, only 158 women sarpanches got elected in the earlier poll as compared to 4,124 in recent polls.