Polls in Jhargram predictable

If the CPI-M continues to keep winning from Jhargram, elections to this Lok Sabha seat will soon become a boring event

because the results are so predictable.

Jhargram (ST) Lok Sabha seat in West Midnapore district, a pocket of which has seen agitation by tribals, has been won by

the CPI(M) since 1977 when the Left Front came to power in West Bengal and this time too it is likely to be retained by the

party.

The party's Rupchand Murmu had won the seat for five consecutive terms including the last time in 2004 by polling 64 per

cent votes. His nearest rival Nityananda Hembram of Trinamool Congress had managed to get only 19 per cent of the votes.

Murmu, who is 69 and had undergone bypass surgery has been replaced by a younger candidate Pulin Bihari Baske by the

CPI(M).

The Parliamentary seats constitutes seven assembly segments - Jhargram, Nayagram, Gopiballavpur, Binpur, Garbeta,

Salboni and Bandowan.

Of the assembly segments, Binpur's police station areas of Belpahari, Lalgarh, Salboni and Barikul are Maoist-affected.

Maoists have already distributed leaflets and posters in areas like Banspahari, Kankarajhor, Amlasol Odolchuya and

Sushnijobi asking villagers to boycott the elections, a PTI correspondent who visited the areas found.

Chunibala Hansda of Jharkhand Party (Naren) who is the MLA from Binpur constituency and is among the seven contestants

for the seat, says "the Maoists are creating a problem in the area. People are scared of them.

"This, however, won't affect the elections. The people will come and exercise their franchise freely," Chunibal claims.

Jhargram and Lalgarh in the Binpur assembly segment came to the fore in early November last year following protests by

tribals over searches by the police following a landmine blast that Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and union

ministers Ramvilas Paswan and Jitindra Prasad narrowly escaped.

The tribals, under the banner of the 'Police Santras Birodhi Janaganer Committee', dug up and blocked roads to withdraw it a

month later after a truce was reached with the administration. The tribals later went back to agitation claiming that the

agreement signed with the administration had not been honoured.

The tribals, prior to the Lok Sabha elections demanded that the police should not enter four villages -- Boropelia,

Chotopelia, Dalilpurchawk and Khas Jungle -- otherwise they would boycott the elections.

Following this, the Election Commission moved the booths in the four villages five km away where stringent security

measures have been adopted.

The CPI(M) candidate, however, dismissed the tribal agitation.

"The problem is only in some pockets and won't affect the election in general, Bhaske said pointing out that six of the seven

assembly segments were held by the CPI(M). "There is no doubt that we are going to win."