Mail News Service
Jamshedpur, May 13: Polling for the Singhbhum and Jamshedpur Lok Sabha seats ended yesterday and the fates of 32 candidates in the fray for both seats were sealed in the EVM records and fingers will remain crossed till the dreams are made and unmade on the eventual day of May 23.
The pulse of voters was high this time around and long queues were seen in 1,715 polling booths in the Singhbhum LS constituency and 1,885 in the Jamshedpur segment much before the polling commencement time of 7 am. Technical glitches in EVM machines were reported from many booths which delayed the frequency of voting. At some places, these contretemps did get on the voters� nerves but their enthusiasm made them stick to the adage of �better late than never.�
Singhbhum recorded 67.79 percent voting, a fall of 1.21 percent against the election of 2014 when the voter turnout was 69 percent. In 2009, the figure was 60.77 percent. Nine candidates were in the fray for this seat but actually, the contest tapered down to NDA�s sitting BJP parliamentarian Laxman Gilua and the Grand Alliance�s Congress hope Geeta Koda who was runners up in the 2014 parliamentary clash for this seat. The other seven candidates may be hoping against hope for a place under the Parliament sun but they are destined to sit back and lick their wounds of shattered dreams that were hazy anyway.
The Jamshedpur Lok Sabha constituency reflected figures of 67.17 percent votes as against the last sortie of 2014 which accounted for 66.33 percent thereby showing an increase of 0.33 percent on this occasion. For the records, the figure for the 2009 Lok Sabha election for this shows 51.12 percent. Among the 23 candidates in the race to Parliament, 21 of them were nonstarters from the word go, leaving the tracks free for NDA powerhouse and sitting BJP MP Bidyut Baran Mahto and his political guru and Grand Alliance�s JMM MLA Champai Soren. According to pundits both, knowledgeable and self proclaimed, the Modi wave gives a clear advantage to the NDA candidate although the rural mood cannot be gauged by sheer party confidence. But whatever the confusing and confounding political permutations and combinations are that are being worked upon in party offices and leaders� homes, the actual status will emerge on May 23. Till then the hopes and aspirations of the candidates, parties and electorate are sealed in the EVMs which in turn are sealed in the strong room at Jamshedpur Cooperative College.
The Kolhan region saw more rural voters� turnout than their urban counterparts. In villages where bullets and bombs of extremists had done the talking until comparatively recently, the villagers did the talking again as they regained the confidence in their constitutional rights and made a beeline for their respective polling booths to vote and get their fingers inked; this ink mark will fade with time but the newfound confidence will hopefully remain and blossom and help form a legitimate government with their legitimate candidates.
Political rallies, road shows, meetings, door-to-door campaigns et al may have ceased but opinions and assessments of chances at the hustings will continue unabated till the poll results are announced on the date with destiny, May 23. Allegations and counter allegations will continue till reduced to whimpers of the losers.
The expectations of the voters of a progressive and development oriented government should not be betrayed. Let the opposition be the guard to guide the government when it errs and support it when it makes the right moves. Could the people get a taste of the Nehru � Lohia days when both sides of one Parliament had the country�s interest in mind? For a change, let voters be winners.
