The Hindu : National / Elections 2004 : POLL-POURRI

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 21, 2004

National

National - Elections 2004

POLL-POURRI

Not confident?

By virtue of being the Prime Minister's constituency, Lucknow is not expected to spring any surprises. After all, Atal Bihari Vajpayee is supposed to be the country's only statesman, and there appears to be no giant-killer in sight. However, the signals emerging from the Prime Minister's camp do not reflect much confidence, leaving the people of Lucknow a tad confused. First, Mr. Vajpayee tried to persuade the criminal lawyer, Ram Jethmalani, to withdraw his candidature from Lucknow. And now Bollywood's `Dream Girl'-turned-Rajya Sabha member, Hema Malini, is in town to campaign for the BJP. As party workers went around announcing the event, the locals were amused by the irony of it. A party that boasts of staging a comeback was pressing a filmstar into action to garner votes for "Atalji" against whom there is supposed to be no competition in the country today!

The champ

In the election arena who is the greatest of them all? Journalists at a press conference addressed by the famous wrestler-film actor, Dara Singh, could not resist the question: "Sabse bada pahelwan kaun (Who is the biggest of all in the arena)." The grappler of yesteryear, now campaigning for the BJP, paused, smiled and replied: "You know it." When pressed further, he said, "Vajpayeeji is the champion."

However, despite his commitment to the BJP, Mr. Singh, who is also the national president of the Jat Mahasabha, does not share the party's view on the issue of the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin. "I don't find much significance in the issue," he says.

Mystery machines

In an Adivasi hamlet near Dahanu in Maharashtra, 120 km from Mumbai, Savitri Varta is nervous about the elections. "We vote every time and it used to be on paper. But this time, I don't know what will happen," she says. No one in her family has seen the mysterious electronic voting machine. "I will just follow what my husband does," she says. Her husband, Laxman, came to know of the EVM from a notice at the panchayat office. Laxman says, "The EVM demonstration was held only for panchayat members. It's better if the panchayat members vote on behalf of the village as they are the only ones who know what to do."

Speculation about the EVMs is rife in villages nearby. One farmer feared that if he pressed the "wrong" button, he would get a shock. His definition of the "wrong" button was all buttons except the one he had been told to press by the official who demonstrated the EVM.

However, officials said they had been conducting awareness camps for villagers in this tribal majority constituency and had used posters (some in English) and pamphlets but there were constraints and every single person could not be reached.

— Anita Joshua, Sunny Sebastian, Meena Menon

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