RANCHI | Friday, February 11, 2011


No jubilation in Kharsawan, only anxious wait for result

RANCHI | Friday, February 11, 2011
VIJAY DEO JHA | RANCHI

Kharsawan returned with 70 per cent of total poll’ will be the banner headline of the newspapers but, do miss the news that neither camp- the BJP and JVM-Congress Opposition -throw any celebration party after the polling was over.

The Opposition, though, under a well-planned strategy staged ‘sit-in-demonstration,’ on polling day (Thursday) alleging misuse of state machinery by the Chief Minister and BJP candidate Arjun Munda. But, it returned satisfied this evening and termed the election free and fair.

“Barring a few incidents it was largely a free and fair election. We have offered a close contest to the BJP. The poll pattern offers no such clue to announce the winner and the loser. It is a fifty-fifty game,” Congress spokesperson Radhakrishna Kishore told The Pioneer.

The BJP camp conceded the same, though privately, that the day did not offer hands down win to Munda. “We are sure about his victory, but not about the margin,” a senior BJP leader claimed with muted confidence.

Kharsawan, after all, is the home constituency of Munda where he completed his internship in politics and rose to become Chief Minister of Jharkhand. Every election he contested from Kharsawan, he vanquished his opponents with phenomenal margin. And this time too, Munda-camp expected him to rout his opponent with this miracle.

Even neutral observers like Indranil Sinha who closely watched the fast-changing Kharsawan poll scenario opined that the margin could be around 6,000 to 15,000 votes.

“A swing of around two to three per cent of vote holds the key to the success of a candidate. Munda is likely to win but not with a huge margin,” Sinha said soon after the polling was over.

Kharsawan spread in five blocks-Kharsawan, Kuchai, Khutpani, Gamharia and Saraikela, witnessed a close contest between Arjun Munda of the BJP and Opposition-backed candidate Dashrath aka Krishna Gagrai.

The JVM sources claimed having complete sway over the BJP in Kutpani block which has 51 booths. “Here we have been able to garner around 70 per cent of the total votes,” JVM’s election in charge Ramesh Rahi told The Pioneer. The JVM did not voice similar claims over Kharsawan where Munda and BJP remained the only signature tune of the day.

About the rest of the three blocks - Kuchai, Khutpani, Gamharia and Saraikela; both BJP and JVM leaders made their own claims. But none is sure on who is going to be the casualty of voters’ backlash.

On record, both the camps have come to interpret the high voter turnout as an indicator of their victory and privately, also the cause of their fear. JVM chief Babulal Marandi had planned a fine strategy to reduce his arch rival Munda from Arjun to Abhimanyu. But the news trickling from the battlefield is that Munda succeeded in frustrating Marandi with his well-knit team of poll managers on the polling day.

As silence descended over Kharsawan, worried faces were busy assessing the losses and gains in the poll battle. The anxious wait will end next Thursday.