By Jasjit Purewal
AMETHIE: The voters in Amethi were no match for the Congress I. They were cajoled misled and terrorized in turn for their votes and at the polls, rigging in the Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi’s constituency flourished like a master art.
The dexterity with which the voter was managed at the hosting proved the Congress I’s finesse at subverting the entire state machinery to violate the law. That plus some strategic support from the underworld of Amethi to scare off the outnumbered opposition’s campaign machinery.
It will take a lot to describe all I saw. But here is a bit of it.
The Pradhan’s of all the villages were an easy target. Aisa paisa deeyin hein unko Congress jo kabhi dekha hi na ho,” said a polling agent at Jagdishpur. (They have been given the kind of money that had never seen before). And the pradhans repaid in turn by fixing both the polling booths as well as dissenting villagers.
In Mohanna, Jagdishpur, Ram Prasad Misra, a local pradhan wearing a Congress I badge was conducting a peaceful poll at booths 44, 45, 45 (A) and 46. Shaukat Ali, Ghulam Hussain Khan and M.A, Khan were his polling agents at these, who helped the voters along in the queue by reminding them, “Yaad rakhen, vote to Rajiv ke haat ko padegi” (remember the vote must be for Rajiv Gandhi’s symbol).
When a woman or old villager came up, he called a young boy waiting at the actual booth. The young boy, Devdutt then helped the voter locate the Congress I symbol and calmly walked to the ballot box with the voter’s open ballot in his hand. He then folded it and dropped it into the box.
Meanwhile the presiding officer, Mr. Ram Asri Patel looked on calmly often rising to assist in folding an open ballet.
Systematic mockery
Women were the worst victims and were quite unaware of the systematic mockery of their franchise. In Aidhi, Gauriganj Bhanu Mai has shown the exact location of the “hand” on the ballot paper by the polling agent. By the time she walked up to the booth she lost the sign again, The polling agent then simply walked over, placed her thumb on the exact spot and led her inside the booth.
But where were the opposition parties polling agents? The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was obviously not confronting the Congress I in the assemblies so they had no agents. The 47 independent Assembly candidates from Amethi continued to be an enigma in this election from start to finish because they were never seen in the entire campaigning period. The JD wrote them off as dummy candidates put up by the Congress I and the Congress I accused them of the same.
But the JD agents were simply beaten up in the booths where the pradhan was certain that the villagers would acquiesce as long as the JD was not present. Therefore, in Mohanna and Onch Gaon, Salon and Gauriganj, the JD agents took off with bloodied noses and torn ears.
Even at captured booths, presiding officers were reluctant to admit that any polling violation had occurred. Of the four captured booths visited by this reporter, only one pradhan, Abhyanand at Bhusayiwa, traditionally a Sanjay Singh stronghold, admitted that the booth had been captured. The
Ballot papers, some of them torn, lying In front of the polling booth, Government Primary School Maityar Bhagora village in Amethi police outside said that they had not seen anything.
The Election Commission observer Jagdish Sagar, had an equally interesting response. Spotted at Mobanna, he was halfheartedly noting the JD poling agent, Mr. K.P. Pandey’s complaint of assault and threats by the other polling agents. When Mr. Pandey pointed out to pradhan R.Q. Misra as one of the assailants and asked his name, Sagar shouted back at the visibly injured Pandey that he had no business asking anyone their names.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 1, 1989
