With hopes for development, West Bengal's hills ready to vote in rural polls after 23 years

Residents of West Bengal's hills in the north are getting prepared to cast their votes in the July 8 panchayat polls after 23 years, even as nominees are doing last-minute canvassing before the trail ends on Thursday.

Over the past one month, the candidates have walked to remote villages in their respective areas and listened to people's aspirations for development while sipping tea with them after being welcomed with traditional 'khada' (scarf) as a mark of respect.

Despite being witness to violent bouts of agitation for Gorkhaland statehood, Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts have largely been free from incidents of political violence so far in this election season, barring some isolated happenings, in stark contrast with the regular hurling of crude bombs and firing of bullets in the plains of West Bengal since the filing of nominations began a month ago.

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Roads, water, electricity, MGNREGA jobs, development of tourism and agriculture, corruption and minimum wages in tea and cinchona plantations are the most important issues in the panchayat elections in the hills, with both the BGPM, which rules the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), and the BJP-led eight-party United Gorkha Alliance promising to work towards bettering rural lives.

The Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), led by GTA chief executive Anit Thapa, is facing the united might of the opposition alliance, which includes restaurateur-politician Ajoy Edwards-led Hamro Party, Bimal Gurung's Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) and Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), which was formed by Subhas Ghisingh, among others, besides the BJP to which Darjeeling MP Raju Bista belongs.

Thapa and Bista were the star campaigners, crisscrossing the hills, levelling allegations and counter-allegations of corruption, incompetence and of doing nothing for the people in their respective capacities.

While Bista gave the call to defeat Trinamool Congress's "divide and rule" policy in the hills and bypass the Mamata Banerjee administration to usher in development directly through central funds, Thapa urged voters to "protect regionalism" by voting for BGPM candidates.

The rivalry between the two leaders also became personal as Bista visited a village in Sittong area represented by Thapa in GTA, and alleged that locals were boycotting elections till a road was built, while Thapa wondered what the MP was doing in rural polls instead of demanding Gorkhaland statehood from the Centre.

Interestingly, GJM leader Bimal Gurung, who reignited the Gorkhaland stir after long years of dormancy, and former GTA chief Binoy Tamang, once a close ally of the West Bengal chief minister, were conspicuous by their absence from the public discourse in the panchayat polls.

Besides the two major blocs, a large number of independent candidates are also contesting the polls, adding colour to the political equations.

"There is excitement among the masses as the two-tier panchayat polls are being held after more than two decades. The polls are being discussed in every gathering. People are concerned only with developmental issues and candidates also know that very well," 30-year-old Biren Lama, a first-time voter in the rural polls in the hills, said.

Sixty-year-old Satyaman Yonzone, a candidate who had earlier represented his village and is contesting the rural polls again after 23 years, said, "The developmental issues largely remain the same even after two decades. I have experience in delivering results and people believe in me but my younger rivals have fresh ideas. They have formed WhatsApp groups and are campaigning on Facebook, while I believe personal relations get transformed into votes."

The last panchayat election was held in 2000, with GNLF founder Subhas Ghisingh claiming in 2005 that the panchayat was diluting the powers of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), which was later rechristened as GTA.

After the formation of DGHC in 1988, the three-tier panchayat system prevalent across the country was replaced with the two-tier system in the hills – gram panchayat and panchayat samiti – in 1992 by amending the Constitution.