SHILLONG: At the end of a hectic session of poll campaigning, candidates for the Shillong and Tura Lok Sabha seats are now waiting for the voters to have the final word. But, the suspense would continue for more than a month as the counting of votes is more than a month away, on May 16.
Though in the same state, the poll scenes are poles apart in Shillong and Tura. While Shillong is witnessing an eight-corner contest, in Tura there is a straight fight. The style of campaigning has also been different Tura’s has been a high-profile and a more hectic one, while Shillong has witnessed a low-key and personalized campaigning.
In Tura, the campaign of NPP was led by a veteran like Purno Sangma, former Lok Sabha speaker and nine times M.P. from the Tura seat. He is also the candidate himself, replacing his daughter Agatha who had won on an NCP ticket last time.
The charge of the challengers in Tura was led by Meghalaya chief minister Dr Mukul Sangma himself, for the Congress nominee Daryl. Both Purno and Mukul addressed a large number of public meetings in different parts of Garo Hills, with the chief minister using helicopters freely to travel till the Election Commission shot the chopper trips down.
A high profile leader like Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, too, visited Tura and campaigned for Daryl, but interestingly he left Shillong out of itinerary, except for a night’s stay. This has led to the speculation if Congress candidate for Shillong Vincent Pala was left to fend for himself because of the internal squabbles within the party over his nomination. The chief minister was learnt to be against Pala’s candidature.
Though AICC general secretary in charge of Meghalaya Luzinho Falerio had stepped in at the eleventh hour, convening a meeting of Congress legislators in Khasi-Jaintia hills to show solidarity for the sitting Congress M.P., observers said his efforts could have come late in the day, when the polls were less than a week away. Some Congress legislators were seen openly campaigning against Pala.
Challenger UDP nominee for Shillong seat Paul Lyngdoh tried to capitalize on the dissentions within the Congress ranks, harping on the disunity in the party. But, he, too, was not on a comfortable wicket, observers pointed out, because of the presence of another candidate from the spectrum of regional parties, independent candidate PBM Basaiawmoit, supported by HSPDP and KHNAM.
Not surprisingly, in the absence of big guns from Delhi, the Congress campaign in Shillong was a low-key affair. The regional parties, in any case, could not field any big name in the campaign. Senior BJP leaders, too, shied away, possibly because Shillong was not a hopeful seat for the party, though it had fielded a candidate in the seat, the observers said. There were not many large public meetings, only small ones, more like street corners. Candidates concentrated on door-to-door campaigning.
In one respect, however, Shillong and Tura have a similarity, indicating that the two constituencies are in the same state. It is the shadow of the undergrounds over the poll scene in either of the constituencies.
In Garo Hills, which encompasses the Tura seat, militant groups like GNLA, ANVC and other splinter groups are having a free run and there are allegations also against political parties taking their help. In Shillong, on the other hand, HNLC had called a poll boycott and a bandh on the polling day, putting a question mark on the possible polling percentage.