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Will people replicate Punjab & Goa in Jammu?
Municipal Elections
3/9/2012 9:47:34 AM


Neha
JAMMU, Mar 7: Elections results in UP, Punjab, Uttrakhand, Goa and Manipur are out. As expected, the Congress suffered disastrous defeat in UP, Punjab and Goa. In UP, the Samajwadi Party (SP) scored a spectacular victory. It won more than 222 seats in a House of 403 with Congress winning a paltry 27 seats. In Punjab where the Congress was expecting a big victory, it could win only 46 seats in a House of 117, 2 more as compared to its tally of 44 in 2007. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and BJP-combine scored a splendid victory. In fact, Punjab created history. It happened for the first time in more than four decades that the people of Punjab voted for the party- in-power. The people also did not give a clear mandate to the Congress in Uttrakhand, notwithstanding the anti-incumbency factor. The Congress could win only 32 seats in a House of 70, as against the BJP's tally of 31. The BJP was in power in Uttrakhand. One can also describe the BJP's performance in this state as a remarkable victory. In Goa, the BJP unseated the Congress government. Manipur was the only state that reposed faith in the Congress and it was on expected lines. The people of northeast states normally vote for the party in power at the centre.
The election results could be legitimately described as a clear verdict against the Congress and the Congress-led UPA Government and the anti-incumbency obviously fuelled by scams, corruption, rising prices, anti-people and pro-corporate economic policies as well as arrogance. It can be safely said that these election results do reflect a national mood that has been building up since May 2009, when the Congress-led UPA formed government at the centre for the second time with social activist Anna Hazare and Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev playing a very important role through their anti-corruption campaigns.
The fact of the matter is that wind is blowing against the Congress across the country. The question is: what will be the impact of what has been happening in the rest of the country and the national mood on Jammu province where municipal elections are round the corner? Jammu province, unlike Kashmir, is part of national mainstream and its people have on occasions more than one reposed faith in the Congress party. Will the verdict of Punjab, UP, Goa and Uttranchal influence the voting pattern in this province? Jammu and Kashmir is perhaps the one state where the Congress would face the electorate after the just-concluded assembly elections in five states.
There are reports which suggest that the Congress election strategists have been devising a strategy to win elections to urban local bodies, including Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC). They, according to these reports, believe that they can turn tables on the BJP and the Panthers Party and capture most of the urban local bodies. Their belief is that since the BJP is in complete disarray, they can win the forthcoming elections to the local bodies. In other words, they believe that the electorate in Jammu province has no other alternative but to vote for the Congress candidates. This is their assessment, although they do realise that the Congress party has over the period become quite unpopular in this province because of two main reasons: coalition with the National Conference and its failure to come up to the expectations of the people or its failure to fulfill the promises the party made in it election manifesto.
On the other hand, the two Congress MPs, who represent Jammu-Poonch and Udhampur-Doda parliamentary constituencies, have also become suddenly active. They are holding "public darbars" in their respective constituencies to mobilise opinion in favour of the Congress party. Besides, these two MPs, the Congress ministers are also busy in their respective constituencies to prepare the ground so that the candidates of their own choice could win and capture local bodies.
The truth, in short, is that the Congress leadership has intensified its activities in its own way to win the forthcoming elections to the local bodies. It will be seen whether or not the Congress is able to win the Jammu electorate. Everything will depend upon how the BJP and Panthers Party leaders, who, according to reports, are also very busy these days to achieve the same objective, take on the Congress party. The BJP and the NPP can surely replicate Punjab, Goa and Uttranchal in Jammu provided they are willing to work as an effective and responsible opposition. The situation is such.
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