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With the Lok Sabha elections approaching, a clear picture of the political alliances has started emerging. But seat sharing is still a contentious issue for most of the major parties involved and none of the alliances have as yet announced any common minimum programme to fight the polls. The Congress and Bodoland Progressive Front (BPF) have decided to continue with the alliance for the Parliamentary polls, but the parties are yet to arrive at a consensus on the Mangaldoi Parliamentary seat as both the parties are keen on fielding candidates from the constituency. In fact the BPF has announced its decision to contest from two constituencies – Kokrajhar and Mangaldoi – and there should not be any problem for the Kokrajhar seat as traditionally the BPF has a stronghold on the seat. It remains to be seen whether the leaders of the Congress and BPF manage to arrive at a consensus on the Mangaldoi seat. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi recently commented that the parties might even go for ‘friendly contest’ if necessary. But one fails to understand as to how any party of candidate can indulge in friendly contest in any election. Failure to break the deadlock may send wrong signals to the voters in other parts of the country. Moreover, the Congress and the BPF have not declared any common minimum programme to fight the polls, which is unusual. Similar is the case with the third front comprising the Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF), CPM, CPI and Nationalist Congress Party as differences among the parties in seat sharing have been highlighted in the media and the Front will also have a tough time if the constituent parties fail to settle the differences amicably.
On the other hand, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have already arrived at a consensus on 13 out of the 14 seats in Assam. But the parties are yet to break the deadlock on the prestigious Guwahati Lok Sabha seat. Both the AGP and BJP are keen on fielding candidates for the seat and a series of meetings between the parties have failed to break the deadlock as both the parties feel that they have a strong support base among the voters in the constituency. It is a fact that candidates of both the AGP and BJP were elected to the Parliament from the constituency in the past. During the last Parliamentary elections, fielding of strong candidates by both the parties ensured victory of the Congress from Guwahati. The parties must arrive at a consensus as soon as possible by adopting a policy of give and take as failure to do so will send wrong signals elsewhere in the State. Moreover, the AGP should make its stand clear on its future plans as the BJP is the main constituent of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the regional party is yet to make public whether it would formally join the NDA after the polls.
source: http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=feb1309/edi
With the Lok Sabha elections approaching, a clear picture of the political alliances has started emerging. But seat sharing is still a contentious issue for most of the major parties involved and none of the alliances have as yet announced any common minimum programme to fight the polls. The Congress and Bodoland Progressive Front (BPF) have decided to continue with the alliance for the Parliamentary polls, but the parties are yet to arrive at a consensus on the Mangaldoi Parliamentary seat as both the parties are keen on fielding candidates from the constituency. In fact the BPF has announced its decision to contest from two constituencies – Kokrajhar and Mangaldoi – and there should not be any problem for the Kokrajhar seat as traditionally the BPF has a stronghold on the seat. It remains to be seen whether the leaders of the Congress and BPF manage to arrive at a consensus on the Mangaldoi seat. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi recently commented that the parties might even go for ‘friendly contest’ if necessary. But one fails to understand as to how any party of candidate can indulge in friendly contest in any election. Failure to break the deadlock may send wrong signals to the voters in other parts of the country. Moreover, the Congress and the BPF have not declared any common minimum programme to fight the polls, which is unusual. Similar is the case with the third front comprising the Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF), CPM, CPI and Nationalist Congress Party as differences among the parties in seat sharing have been highlighted in the media and the Front will also have a tough time if the constituent parties fail to settle the differences amicably.
On the other hand, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have already arrived at a consensus on 13 out of the 14 seats in Assam. But the parties are yet to break the deadlock on the prestigious Guwahati Lok Sabha seat. Both the AGP and BJP are keen on fielding candidates for the seat and a series of meetings between the parties have failed to break the deadlock as both the parties feel that they have a strong support base among the voters in the constituency. It is a fact that candidates of both the AGP and BJP were elected to the Parliament from the constituency in the past. During the last Parliamentary elections, fielding of strong candidates by both the parties ensured victory of the Congress from Guwahati. The parties must arrive at a consensus as soon as possible by adopting a policy of give and take as failure to do so will send wrong signals elsewhere in the State. Moreover, the AGP should make its stand clear on its future plans as the BJP is the main constituent of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the regional party is yet to make public whether it would formally join the NDA after the polls.
source: http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=feb1309/edi
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