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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Regional parties and communal cards
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Regional parties and communal cards

Election Round-up brings to you daily commentary on what the world is saying about the Lok Sabha polls

Playing the communal card is a cynical ploy which will not realize too many electoral gains, but risks seriously scarring the social fabric of this country, writes ‘Mint’s’ Anil Padmanabhan. Photo: AFPPremium
Playing the communal card is a cynical ploy which will not realize too many electoral gains, but risks seriously scarring the social fabric of this country, writes ‘Mint’s’ Anil Padmanabhan. Photo: AFP

We start the day’s round-up with news that will surprise very few people: opinion pollsters in India leave much to be desired. “Why are opinion polls held? Are they an accurate assessment of public opinion, especially, in predicting electoral outcomes? The answer is that while they offer inferences (that may affect voters, especially undecided ones), they are often neither scientific nor transparent about their sampling methods," Navin Chawla, ex-chief election commissioner writes in The Hindustan Times.

Meanwhile at Livemint.com, Makarand Gadgil wonders: “Are regional parties bad for India?" “While the so-called national parties have been in existence in many parts of the country only on paper, the regional parties, strong in their respective states, do help in formulating a balanced national policy," Gadgil writes.

Also at Livemint.com, Anil Padmanabhan says that playing the communal card is “a cynical ploy which will not realize too many electoral gains, but risks seriously scarring the social fabric of this country. Especially since this election had served up a tremendous opportunity to canvass for votes other than just on the basis of the traditional divisions of social identity of caste and religion. The rising aspirations and the youthful demographic bulge had laid the basis, but clearly our politicians think otherwise."

And on to a positive story. How did the Election Commission convince more women to vote? S.Y.Quraishi, author of a new book on Indian elections, writes at Scroll.in: “It was felt in the middle of the last decade that due to the social structure of Indian society, which is still somewhat restrictive for women, some radical efforts needed to be made. Consequently, the system of appointing booth level officers (BLOs) was devised and recently, the commission has initiated the system of annual house to house verification of voters with the help of the BLOs."

The Economic Times reports that the bumper potato harvest in Singur spells bad news for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate, Chandan Mitra. “This year, the potato crop has been very good but much better are the prices and farmers have reaped a bonanza. In a district which has some 14 lakh voters, of which at least 75% are farmers, the money harvested just ahead of the polls on 30 April comes as a blessing. For that, they thank Mamata Banerjee’s pragmatic ways—cutting across party lines—and the general view is that Trinamool Congress candidate Ratna De Nag will win because the “potato votes" will go to her mostly out of sheer gratitude."

The Aam Aadmi Party, meanwhile, has found things to complain about in Varanasi, informs The Economic Times. The party “has lodged a complaint with the returning officer of Varanasi against Narendra Modi, alleging that the BJP has spent over 1,000 crore for its campaigning in the temple town and that people were “bribed". In its complaint, the party has said 5.75 crore were spent on caps, sarees, flags, masks, cutouts and T-shirts when Modi held a roadshow on the day of filing his nomination from the temple town. The party termed it a “gross violation of the model code of conduct and directives" of the Election Commission.

Narendra Modi has asked Rahul Gandhi to “remain within limits", reports Livemint.com. “Brother Rahul, whatever lies you are continuing to speak, crossing all limits, you have nothing positive to say about yourself, your mother or about your government. That is why you are making all false, dirty and unverified remarks... Keep things within limits. We do not talk while breaking limits. Come out in the open and give an account of the work of your government. Why are you running away?" Modi is quoted as asking.

Later in Serampore, Modi warned Bangladeshi immigrants. “I want to warn from here, brothers and sisters write down, that after 16 May, will send these Bangladeshis beyond the border with their bags and baggages. You are spreading the red carpet for the Bangladeshis for the sake of votebank politics," reports The Economic Times.

Meanwhile, in the camp of the incumbents, Rahul Gandhi has raised the issue of land pricing. Bad move, says The Financial Express. Because the Congress will bear the brunt of criticism. “There is just no industry prior to 2006 which has bought land from the state at even close to market rates in Gujarat or any other state. It was this year when the UPA government fast-tracked land buying through the SEZ Act. The furore it unleashed begun corrections in pricing of land. But till today, no land sales mediated by any state has been at market prices, neither for public-private partnerships nor for SEZs."

At NDTV.com, Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel attempted to stand up for the much maligned Robert Vadra. “Patel said that Vadra has not been shown any special favours, daring the BJP to launch any inquiry they wish into his land purchases. When asked how Vadra’s finances have multiplied so rapidly, he said that he hasn’t seen the details, but that the BJP is targeting Vadra simply to target the Gandhi family. “Let there be an inquiry into charges against Robert Vadra" Patel told NDTV.

Ok then.

And finally, a polling booth has racked up 0.73% turnout. What? Is this some apathetic upper middle class neighbourhood? No. “There are 410 voters under the polling station. Out of 410, there are 409 males and one female voter. In fact, most of the voters in the polling station are policemen as it falls under Reserve Police Lines (RPL) area. The policemen, who were guarding polling stations in different parts of the state, could not vote. One of the policemen at reserve lines said he was posted in Dholpur area as part of the security arrangements for the election. “Since I was not here I could not vote in the election," he said, according to The Times of India.

Thankfully, all of them will be given service ballots later.

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Published: 28 Apr 2014, 04:23 PM IST
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