March 9, 1998

Just Another Day in Paradise

February 22 was a particularly exciting polling day in Bihar. In Sheohar, former minister Raghunath Jha, who quit the RJD to join the Samata Party on poll eve, was chased over 10 km by Anand Mohan Singh, Laloo Yadav's new-found ally. The hot pursuit ended when Jha took refuge in a BSF camp. Finally, both hunter and prey were taken into police custody. They were not alone. As many as four state ministers were also arrested that day. The charges were the usual: booth capturing and so on. Munshi Lal Rai was detained at his residence in Hajipur. Similar treatment was meted out to Brij Bihari Prasad, whose wife Rama Devi is the candidate from Motihari. Ram Das Rai was caught in Chapra. Sita Sinha faced police ire in Samastipur.

Despite all this, Bhola Singh, the ruling RJD's spokesman, said, "Polling was normal by Bihar standards." Says much for normality.

-Sanjay K. Jha

Seeking a Proxy

India's armed forces may be apolitical, but they do have a right to vote. Only in theory, as officers and jawans alike have discovered. They are sent postal ballots via their regimental centres after the final list of candidates is available, two to three weeks before polling day. This period is simply not enough for a ballot paper to reach a soldier in, say, Siachen and be sent back to his home district in, say, interior Karnataka. The result? Most soldiers don't bother asking for postal ballots. The upshot? To quote Army Chief General V.P. Malik, a "denial of their fundamental right" to soldiers. The solution? "Proxy voting," says a senior officer. Any party willing to take up the soldiers' cause?

-Manoj Joshi

Navigator Pawar Has His Way

Election observers are IAS and IRS officers sent to non-home cadre states to play watchdogs. They also play prima donnas. As one district magistrate in West Bengal complained, "We were forced to requisition a deluxe Sumo for one observer, which made the other two jealous. So we had to hire two more Sumos." Another observer ran up hotel bills of Rs 5,000. The local authorities, and the nation, had to pay.

-Udayan Namboodiri

Navigator Pawar Has His Way

It was one more sultry moment in Sharad Pawar's punishing campaign schedule as he approached Junnar, Khed constituency, for his third meeting of the day. As the helicopter repeatedly circled Junnar, the pilot couldn't spot the helipad. Even Pawar couldn't see any crowd. Frowns appeared on every forehead and the pilot wondered if he had enough fuel to make it to Pune, the nearest landing pad. Then Pawar took charge -- rather, took over the co-pilot's headphones and began directing the pilot. Six minutes later, he'd done it: "The venue is on the outskirts of Junnar. Sometimes if there's a problem with the main venue, they use this one."

Fair enough, but how did he find his way? Pawar smiled; and shrugged. As his staff never ceases to tell you, the man knows Maharashtra like the back of his hand -- almost recalling every village by name. Will he navigate the Congress to a smooth touchdown too?

-Smruti Koppikar

Hoping Nobody Would Notice

Congressman R.K. Dhawan is a worried man, and with reason. For one, he doesn't know if the ballot boxes will favour him or the BJP's Jagmohan in the New Delhi constituency. For another, he faces a charge of violation of the model code of conduct. The assistant returning officer of the New Delhi seat has reported that a government flat on Lodhi Road -- part of the constituency -- functioned as one of Dhawan's election offices. The office was raided and many Congress workers and government officials were found busy inside. Worse, 300 Dhawan supporters heckled the raiding team. Now Dhawan and company are in double trouble. The police have registered a case for defacing public property and the EC is all set to take action.

-Sayantan Chakravarty

Change of Image

Public relations agencies are like politicians: quick recovery from setbacks and party hopping is all part of the game. After its faltering attempt to get the Congress account, Politbureau decided to lie low -- but only for a while. Its spin doctors managed to hitch their wagon to a bunch of unsuspecting candidates, the most notable of whom included filmstar Vinod Khanna, the BJP nominee from Gurdaspur, and filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, the Samajwadi Party aspirant from Lucknow. Both celebrity politicians have retained Politbureau for "media management".

-Namita Bhandare

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