Even as the stage is set for assembly elections in West Bengal, poll boycott calls have been given over closure of tea gardens and elephant depredations in certain areas of the northern part of the state.

Bengal: An election like never before

Workers of Shikarpur and Raipur tea gardens, in the Dooars in Jalpaiguri district, numbering around 3,000 have called for a boycott of the election in the area, which has about 10,000 valid voters.

Left-affiliated trade union leader of Shikarpur, Bodharu Muhammad, alleged that three workers of the garden have died of starvation since January, when the garden closed. A large number of workers were suffering because rations, drinking water, electricity and healthcare facilities had been withdrawn, he said.

'There is no election in West Bengal'

"We have decided to boycott the election as politicians have not done anything for our survival. Elections are irrelevant to us," he said.

The situation was similar in Raipur. Chamurcha and Kathalguri garden workers, who were also facing the same problem after failing to have the garden reopened, were preparing to boycott the elections.

Vote for me, accused only of murder

"We were ready to vote for any party if the garden were to be opened before the polls," a trade union leader said, adding that since nothing had been done about it, they would not exercise their franchise. He claimed that the situation was the same in the 19 closed tea gardens in the area.

The Gorkha National Liberation Front has called for a poll boycott at the Panighata tea garden in the Darjeeling foothills. GNLF-affiliated Himalayan Plantation Workers' union secretary Sanjay Gahatraj said the management had deserted the garden, leaving about 1,200 workers with no means to earn their livelihood. Demanding the garden owner's arrest, he claimed that the management had misappropriated the provident fund of the workers.

EC confident of free & fair polls

A poll boycott has also been threatened by ISKCON temple in-charge Brajaraj Das after his name did not figure in the revised electoral rolls. Warning that he would ask ISKCON devotees in north Bengal not to vote if his name was not re-included in the voters list, Das claimed that though he had a voter's identity card, his name was deleted.

Residents of a few forest villages in Dooars too have decided to boycott the elections since the authorities had failed to take steps to protect them from wild elephants. The Wildlife Department, they alleged, had not paid heed to their pleas.

Villages suffering from erosion, an annual affair, at Panchananda in Malda district and a few others in Cooch Behar district were also considering not to vote if the government failed to take sufficient protective measures.

Another cause of concern is the Greater Cooch Behar People's Association's threat to go on an indefinite fast from May five, three days before the election. It is demanding that the Centre clarify on its demand for making Cooch Behar district a 'C' category state.

GCPA General Secretary Bangsi Badan Barman said though his organisation had called for a fast till death, it had not asked for an election boycott. However, he said it was not an offence not to exercise one's franchise. "A person who decided not to vote was also free to influence others with his logic," he said.

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Complete Coverage: Assembly Elections 2006
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