Campaigning came to an end yesterday for the second phase of crucial assembly elections in Assam and West Bengal.
Voters will cast ballots in 61 constituencies in Assam and 31 in West Bengal.
Political parties in both states were busy in last-ditch efforts to woo the electorate.
While the Congress in Assam has been highlighting the development it has ushered in during its 15-year rule in the insurgency-ravaged state, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is playing on the threat of Moulana Badaruddin Ajmal becoming the state’s deputy chief minister in the event of a Congress-All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) government in the state.
“People have witnessed the development our government has brought in the past 15 years. In 2001, the state was in a financial mess and people were scared to go out of their homes after dusk. Now people are roaming around freely and the financial situation has improved to a great extent,” Assam Congress president Anjan Dutta said.
“The violence is now over and it is the Congress government that has brought most of the insurgent outfits to the negotiating table in the last 15 years,” he said, asserting that the party is going to form the government again in the state.
He refuted allegations that there was an understanding with the AIUDF and claimed it was the BJP which has a tacit understanding with the AIUDF.
The saffron party, which had made it big in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in Assam by winning seven of the total 14 Lok Sabha seats, has intensified its attack on the ruling Congress Party over infiltration from Bangladesh. The BJP has said it will seal the Indo-Bangladesh border if it comes to power in Assam.
BJP president Amit Shah reiterated the pledge while asserting that the protection of the identity and culture of the indigenous people will also be a priority for his party.
“The BJP is committed to sealing the India-Bangladesh border. We are going to seal the border as soon as possible. The execution of the land swap deal between the two countries has already eased the process,” Shah said at a press conference in Guwahati.
The BJP has been asking the people in almost all its rallies not to vote for the Congress, claiming it might threaten the indigenous Assamese identity by paving way for a ‘Bangladeshi’ (as the AIUDF is often referred to in Assam due to the party’s popularity among Bengali-speaking Muslim settlers in Assam) to become the deputy chief minister.
The substantial change in the state’s demographic pattern in the recent past due to the illegal infiltration from the other side of the border has already caused concern among the indigenous people that a ‘Bangladeshi’ may become the chief minister.
What has made the people buy the BJP’s argument is that while the Congress has been taking on it aggressively in almost all its rallies, the party has maintained a soft stand on the AIUDF. Besides, AIUDF legislators in the Assam assembly have also voted for the two candidates nominated by Congress for the Rajya Sabha.
“We are ready to sit in the opposition for another 50 years but we are not ready to join hands with the AIUDF to form a government in Assam. The people of Assam have understood the tacit understanding between the Congress and the AIUDF. The high turnout of voters in the first phase (on April 4) is an indication that people want a change,” said president of the state unit of BJP Sarbananda Sonowal.
While the Congress is going to polls in Assam with a regional party – the United Peoples’ Party (UPP), the BJP has forged an alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bodoland Peoples’ Front (BPF), the ruling party in the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).
The BJP is also highlighting the boost to connectivity in the region after the party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power in 2014.
People in Assam’s Barak Valley got the first ever direct train to Guwahati, 68 years after India’s independence. The Silchar-Guwahati Fast Passenger train was flagged off on September 21 last year. Subsequently, the services of Kolkata-Guwahati Kanchenjunga Express and New Delhi-Guwahati Sampark Kranti Express trains were extended to Silchar in the valley, which comprises Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts.
In West Bengal, 13 of the constituencies are in West Medinipur, and nine each in Bankura and Bardhaman.
Nearly 7mn voters across 8,465 polling stations including two auxiliary stations would decide the fate of 163 candidates - 21 of them female.
Political big shots like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Trinamool Congress supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee were among those who hit the campaign trail.
The Trinamool, the Left Front-Congress combination and the BJP are contesting all the seats.