Assembly Elections 2012: SP Storms Back to Power in Uttar Pradesh, SAD-BJP Creates History in Punjab, Congress Scores Hat Trick in Manipur

The Election Commission has declared results of the 2012 Assembly elections to five States. The Congress has come a cropper despite the party’s high decibel campaign in Uttar Pradesh, which was led by Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and a galaxy of senior leaders, while in Goa the party has failed to reach, leave alone cross, the double-digit mark in the 40-member House, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sweeping the elections.
In fact, the most disastrous performance of the Congress has been in Punjab where the party had taken its victory for granted, fed by glowing feedback about its prospects from a host of sources, not excluding sections of the media.
In Uttar Pradesh it is Akhilesh Singh Yadav, the 39-year-old heir apparent of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, in Goa it is Manohar Parrikar and in Punjab it is Sukhbir Singh. More important, voters have given their preferred parties a clear majority.
The SP’s landslide victory in Uttar Pradesh was a reflection that the electorate had turned the tables on the Bahujan Samaj Party for non-performance just the way the latter had mauled the SP in the 2007 assembly elections. The fact that both the national parties—the BJP and the Congress—failed to make an impression in Uttar Pradesh was a reflection of the desire of people at large to throw out autocratic Mayawati for which they felt the SP was her most credible adversary. The spectacular victory of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP combine in Punjab where the anti-incumbency factor did not work in favour of the Congress was the result of sustained hard work in wooing the electorate. In Goa, the BJP’s impressive win was a reaction to the corrupt rule of the Congress, while in Manipur, the Congress sway was never in doubt.
Uttar Pradesh
The SP — with its campaign led by Mulayam Singh Yadav’s son Akhilesh Yadav — swept Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) out of power in Uttar Pradesh and left the Congress reeling.
The SP, romped home after winning 224 of the 403 Assembly seats.The SP juggernaut reduced Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati from 206 seats in the outgoing House to just 79. The BJP’s tally came down from 51 seats to 47; while the Congress, which had 22 MLAs earlier, managed to add only six more to its kitty. Its alliance partner, Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal, won nine seats.
Akhilesh Yadav is clearly the man of the moment at the SP headquarters. The graduation from ‘bhaiyaji’ to ‘adhyakshji’ (state president) and now the possibility of ‘mukhya mantriji’ has been a long struggle for the three-time Kannauj MP. This was a battle he fiercely fought both on the streets and inside the family quarters, emerging the winner on both fronts.
In fact, the Congress not merely lost Punjab, but was also routed by the BJP in Goa. In the hill state of Uttarakhand, a clear majority eluded both the Congress and the BJP. Pre-poll surveys had indicated a clear victory for the Congress. The only consolation for the beleaguered Congress was its victory in Manipur, where it managed to retain power.
The Congress’ defeat was all the more severe as it could manage to win only two of the 10 Assembly segments which comprise the twin Lok Sabha constituencies of Rae Bareli and Amethi, the party’s pocket boroughs since the days of Indira Gandhi. Law Minister Salman Khurshid’s wife Louise was trounced in Farrukhabad, in third place after an Independent candidate and the BJP.
BSP supremo Mayawati was perhaps the first to suspect a huge anti-incumbency factor working against her government. She thus went to great lengths in an attempt to salvage her party with a massive ‘clean-up exercise’ involving throwing out of 23 ministers and dozens of legislators and replacing more than 100 sitting MLAs weeks before the Assembly elections.
That the SP surpassed the BJP's1991 tally of 221 seats achieved during the Ram wave speaks for itself. The BSP, which was uniquely placed with a committed core vote, has only itself to blame for squandering away a rare opportunity. Mayawati restored law and order and instituted several positive measures, especially towards the uplift of the Dalit community. But her achievements faded when measured against the corruption of the administration and her own perceived arrogance. In the end, the statues she built for herself became a metaphor for the regime's obsessive self-interest.
The belated damage control to distance her party from the corruption of its leaders did not cut ice with the state’s voters. The magic which she had woven in 2007 with so-called social engineering clearly remained an empty slogan this time.
Of the 403 seats, Mayawati had this time given tickets for 88 (21.83 per cent) to the Dalits, 113 (28 per cent) to OBCs, 85 (21.09 per cent) to Muslims and 77 (19.10 per cent) to Brahmins, 33 (8.18 per cent) to Rajputs and the remaining to those from communities like the Kayasths, Vaishyas and even Punjabis.
Among the many surprises that this election threw up was the Congress being wiped out from the party's so-called fiefdom of Rae Bareli and Amethi where the Gandhi-Nehru family had put its personal prestige at stake. The most embarrassing result was in Congress President Sonia Gandhi's parliamentary constituency of Rae Bareli where the party did not win even one of the five Assembly seats. In Amethi, the constituency of Rahul Gandhi, the party managed to salvage two seats of Jagdishpur and Tiloi while conceding to the SP the remaining three seats of Amethi, Gauriganj and Salon.
Punjab
The SAD-BJP alliance made history by overcoming anti-incumbency to retain power for the second consecutive term, thus creating history in the Punjab electoral politics. By winning 56 seats on its own and with its alliance partner BJP winning 12 seats, this will be the first time in Punjab’s history that a ruling party has been voted back to power.
By wrestling 68 of the 117 Assembly sets, the Akali BJP combine has got a formidable lead over its main rival, Congress, which has won 46 seats. While three independents have won at the hustings, the Third Front under the banner of “Sanjha Morcha” has failed to get any seat.
The People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) which was part of the third front failed to open its account and its president Manpreet Singh Badal lost both Gidderbaha and Maur seats. In fact he was third on both these two seats. The SAD-BJP alliance won the contest, but several of its heavyweights fell. This includes Vidhan Sabha Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon and ministers, Hira Singh Gabria, Sucha Singh Langha, Tikshan Sud, Ranjit Singh Brahampura, Satpal Gosain. Arunesh Kumar, Sewa Singh Sekhwan, Upinderjit Kaur, besides others.
It was only a one per cent swing in votes that gave the SAD - BJP alliance a gain of 22 seats. The SAD-BJP alliance polled 42 per cent votes with the Congress getting 41 per cent of the vote share. The PPP got six per cent votes that damaged the Congress more than it could harm the Akali Dal. Independents and others according to initial reports secured 11 percent votes that upset many poll calculations.
Manipur
The Congress stormed back to power in Manipur for the third consecutive time with a clear majority, helped by a fragmented opposition. Manipur came as the only solace for the Congress which clinched 36 of 52 seats in the 60-member house and was leading in five of the remaining eight seats.
Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh won from Thoubal and his wife O Landhoni Devi from Khangabok.
The Trinamool Congress, part of an 11-party Peoples Democratic Alliance which came into being very recently, sprang a surprise winning seven of the 48 seats it contested. It had a sole member in the outgoing House.
Other partners of the alliance together with the Trinamool Congress were able to secure only 16 seats. The Manipur State Congress party won four, the Naga Peoples Front three and NCP and LJP won a seat each.
The BJP which contested 19 seats drew a blank. The CPI, which was a former coalition partner of the Congress in the erstwhile Secular Democratic Front failed to win a single seat.
Uttarakhand
The Congress has been set to emerge as the single largest party in Uttarakhand, enjoying an edge against ruling the BJP in a nail-biting finish for half-way mark in the elections to the 70-member Assembly.
Out of the 60 results declared so far, Congress won 27 seats and was ahead in five others while the BJP bagged 28 constituencies and led in three.
The biggest setback for the BJP was the defeat of Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri who was defeated by S.S. Negi of the Congress from Kotdwar seat by 4,632 votes.
The BSP won three seats and three independents emerged successful, thus positioning themselves as possible kingmakers. The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal-Panwar (UKD-P) won one seat.
Goa
The Congress suffered its worst-ever defeat in the Goa Assembly elections. The BJP, riding the anti-incumbency wave against the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) “corruption, misgovernance,” won a clear majority with 21 seats in the 40-member House. The BJP's ally, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), won 3 seats. Two Independents supported by the BJP also won.
So severe was the mauling for the ruling coalition that as many as eight of the 11 Ministers, including both NCP Ministers, were defeated. While the Congress won just 9 out of 33 seats it contested, the NCP failed to get even one of the seven it contested. Five independents, two of them Congress rebels, and two MLAs of the Goa Vikas Party (GVP), a regional outfit, also won capitalising on the anti-Congress mood.
The five independents who won are Vijay Sardesai in Fatorda, Naresh Sawal (Bicholim), both Congressmen denied tickets; Benjamin Silva (Velim) and Avertano Furtado (Navelim), both supported by the BJP, and Rohan Khavtye from Porvorim.
So decisive was the mandate for the BJP-MGP combine, following a very high turnout of nearly 83 per cent, that except for Micky Pacheco, former Tourism Minister (Nuvem), and Caetano R. Silva (Benaulim), who won on the GVP ticket, no other regional outfit or new entrants like the Trinamool Congress or independents fielded by village groups could make any adverse impact.
The BJP — which hitherto got only Hindu votes, while the nearly 27 per cent Catholic population looked at it with suspicion and traditionally rallied behind the Congress-NCP alliance — for the first time found a massive mandate from across the communities.
Other Perspective

Undoubtedly, the 2012 Assembly elections have been free and fair, and the Election Commission deserves all the kudos. But when money, caste and religion come into play and make a mockery of polls, can they be called free and fair?
The poll results for the state Assemblies of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur cannot hold much cheer for the Congress, which heads United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre. Barring the state in the Northeast, where the party retained its government with a thumping victory, in the other states its performance has been well below par.
The UPA government had come under considerable pressure on a variety of counts for the past one in particular — the high prices of goods of everyday consumption, the breaking of corruption scandals which fed the anti-Congress Anna Hazare campaign whose reverberations were felt throughout the country, and the political oneupmanship of UPA partners, particularly the Trinamul Congress, which stopped the government from pushing a policy quotient that might have brought credit to the government and the Congress as a party. For the Congress, the negative implications of these developments have not been politically neutralised through face-saving poll results at the state level in elections taking place approximately half way through the second term of the UPA.
Demand of the Situation
All eyes will now be on the Manmohan Singh government at the Center which has run half its term. The UPA has indeed been in a state of siege with a surfeit of corruption scandals sullying its image. If the Congress-led combine was looking for redemption from this round of assembly elections, the results are a major disappointment. The fact that the SP does not need Congress support in the State would render its support to the UPA uncertain. In the event of Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress pulling the rug from under UPA’s feet, the federal government could face a crisis of survival if the SP support is not forthcoming.
The common people have been unsparing in their verdict on several outgoing ministers, refusing to elect them. Several Congress heavyweights, including the outgoing Deputy Leader of the Congress Legislature Party, have also been rejected. Personal nominees of former chief minister Narayan Dutt Tiwari, who is said to have arm twisted the party into fielding them, have lost and so have the young faces from the Youth Congress, foisted ostensibly at the insistence of Rahul Gandhi.
However, that is not how the people will perceive the performance of the Congress whose campaign was led from the front by Rahul Gandhi. Bagging 28 seats for the party after addressing 218 election rallies in 48 days is not something that he can flaunt as electoral success.
It can be said that the present Assembly election results as stunning would be an understatement given that incredible stories have emerged in at least three of the five States that went to the polls over the past six weeks. In other words, the verdict is a devastating blow to the Congress.
Results At A Glance
Uttar Pradesh: (403) SP 225, BSP 79, BJP 47, Congress 28, RLD 9, Others 15
Punjab: (seats 117) SAD 56, BJP 12, Congress: 46, Others 3
Manipur: (60) Congress 42, AITC 7, NPF 4, MSCP 5, LJSP 1
Uttarakhand: (70) Congress 32, BJP 31, BSP 3, Others 4
Goa: (40) BJP 21, Congress 9, MGP 3, Others 7

Assembly Elections in Five States

In a move that has apparently upset Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s electoral plans, the Election Commission has announced the schedule for the Assembly polls in five states, setting the stage for a key electoral battle that is bound to have a bearing on national politics.
The election to the 117-member Punjab Assembly will be held in a single phase on January 30 while Uttar Pradesh, which has a 403-member Assembly, will witness a seven-phase voting on February 4, 8, 11,15, 19, 23 and 28.
The elections in Uttarakhand will be held on January 30, Goa on March 3 and Manipur on January 28. Counting of votes will take place in all the five states on March 4.
The notification for the elections in Punjab will be issued on January 5, Uttarakhand on January 5, Manipur on January 4 and Goa on February 6. The notification for the elections in UP will be issued on January 10, 12, 16, 21, 25 and 28 and February 2 respectively, for the seven phases.
Model Code of Conduct
The model code of conduct has come into force with immediate effect. The election schedule is likely to affect the presentation of the Railway Budget and the Federal Budget for 2011-12. The budgets are normally presented in the last week of February, but this time the Model Code of Conduct will last till March 9. Asked whether the schedule will affect the budgets, Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi said: “That is something the government will have to take care of.”
In a first, the Electronic Voting Machine (EVMs) will have signs in Braille to facilitate the blind voters. The Election Commission has also introduced a toll-free number 1950 for redressel of complaints.
Cutting short the term of the Assembly by about two months could deprive Mayawati an opportunity to use her absolute majority in the House to boost her party’s strength in the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha in April. The Congress is using all the forces at its command to improve its tally in the state.
The decision of the Centre to grant 4.5 per cent reservation to the minorities within the 27 per cent OBC quota is being seen as a clear move by the UPA government to woo the Muslims, who play a significant role in deciding the verdict in many constituencies in Uttar Pradesh.
The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which wields considerable influence in western Uttar Pradesh, recently joined the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) which could boost the prospects of the Congress in UP.
In Punjab, it will again be a battle between the Congress and the Akali Dal-BJP combine while Uttarakhand will see a straight contest between the Congress and the ruling BJP, which had recently changed its chief minister to give an image makeover to the state government.
Misuse of Black Money
In an attempt to check the misuse of black money in the polls, the Election Commission has decided to appoint adequate number of expenditure observers and assistant expenditure observers who would exclusively monitor the expenditure of the contesting candidates.
For greater transparency and for easy monitoring by the Election Commission, candidates would be required to open a separate bank account and incur their election expenses for that very account. Comprehensive instructions for the purpose of effective monitoring of the election expenditure of the candidates, including formation of flying squads, video surveillance teams in the constituency and involvement of investigation directorates of the income tax department, have also been issued by the Election Commission.
To deal with ‘paid news’, monitoring committees have been set up at district, state and Election Commission levels and necessary instructions issued to the district election officers.
The Election Commission also conducted a meeting with director generals (Narcotics) of five states to prevent the use of drugs during voting period.
Quraishi said the election dates have been decided taking into consideration climatic conditions, academic schedules, festivals, law and order, availability of security forces, time needed for their movement and deployment and other ground realities.

Electoral Reforms

Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily has suggested that with a view to preventing black money, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) should get the accounts of all political parties audited. Speaking at a seminar on 'Regional Consultation for Electoral Reforms,' in Chandigarh, he made this proposal, which was supported even by Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Qureshi.

Taking Moily's proposal even further, Qureshi stressed that getting the accounts of all political parties audited by the CAG would reveal the sources from where the money came as also on what it was spent. He further opined that all transactions during the election campaign should be made through checks. He felt that all political parties should reveal their assets to the public. He also stressed the need of prevention of violence at polling booths.

Importance and Significance
It is well nigh impossible to conjecture how far political parties are serious and agreeable to the proposals made by Veerappa Moily and S.Y. Qureshi, and how much support would they extend to bring transparency to the election process and regulations. It is because it would amount to most political parties cutting the same branch of the tree they are sitting on.

All political parties and their candidates contesting election spent huge sums of money in different ways during electioneering. They spent money like throwing it down the drain, and by luring voters with dubious tactics, attempt to mislead them. In such a scenario, it is clearly difficult for any party to agree seriously and with good intention with the proposals put up by Moily and Qureshi. Yet, it no way reduces the importance and the significance of these proposals because, in the list of sections responsible for the increasing corruption, politicians and bureaucrats are on the top.

The causes of corruption among bureaucrats is another matter for debate but as far as corruption indulged in by politicians is concerned, one of the reason is the shortcoming in the electoral system. Among them is the issue of criminalization of politics and that of those who contest an election on the force of the wealth at their command. These politicians use the money earned through underhand means and illegally, without any hitch. Yet only a few politicians fall into the grip of law. It is because the rules and regulations pertaining to election are neither much effective nor strong.

Grip of Law
If any politician does fall into the grip of the law, they get acquitted honorably because of the weak laws and ineffective regulations. Thus, the game plan of using the ill-gotten money in elections continues unabated.

The Election Commission, on its part, has initiated some measures in recent past, but the problem remains that the Election Commission has to function under its own sphere of work and authority. It makes it clear that unless legislatures which comprise politicians who reach the House after winning an election, do not initiate measures to end the shortcomings, one cannot hope for any change.

Impartiality and Transparency
Under such circumstances, it is necessary that all political parties reach some kind of a consensus outside parliament and prepare such a draft for electoral reforms, which would be binding on parties to support inside the legislative body. Legal luminaries may also be got involved while drafting the proposed bill for electoral reforms so that there may not be any lacunae that would be utilized by those contesting election.

The judiciary and the Election Commission should also play a role within their bounds, in this regard. As for the proposal put up by Moily regarding accounts of political parties checked by the CAG, the impartiality and transparency of the CAG would have to be ensured, prior to giving this responsibility.

Restoration of Democracy in Myanmar

The multiparty democracy general elections in Myanmar have successfully been held. Voters in the secretive military-ruled nation of Myanmar cast their first ballots in two decades, as slim hopes for democratic reform faced an electoral system engineered to ensure that most power will remain in the hands of the junta and its political proxies. Approximately 29 million people contributed their votes in the elections in Myanmar on 7 November. But the question here has been raised whether it would really get democracy. Many believed that by holding the election in the country, Myanmar stepped towards change in the nation which has been under military dictatorships since 1962.

The voters have elected their representatives freely of their own accord. The election commission and subcommissions at various levels have carried out election processes in line with the election laws, rules and procedures and are announcing the number of votes got by an individual Hluttaw representative.

It is, however, learned that some political parties and foreign media are releasing their statements leveling accusations that there has been disagreement among the public over the election results due to the advance votes.

Landslide Victory for USDP
The pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has won Myanmar's elections after gaining 76.5 percent of seats across the three parliaments, according to the country's supreme election authority.

The results arrived 11 days after Burmese went to the polls for the first time in two decades, but come as little surprise: the USDP was the strongest contender by a stretch, and received the tacit support of the ruling junta, who choreographed election conditions that appeared to favor the party.

Trailing the USDP, which won 883 of the total 1,154 seats, is the National Unity Party (NUP), which came runner-up in the last polls. Also holding close ties to the ruling junta, the NUP won only 63 seats, the China-based People's Daily quoted the Election Commission (EC) as saying.
The next four parties all fall within the 'opposition' bracket, despite fears before the polls that any pro-democracy candidates would be altogether sidelined. However, the total amount of seats won by these parties makes up only nine percent of the total.

They are, in order: the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), with 57 seats; the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) with 35 seats, and the National Democratic Force (NDF) and All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMRDP), each with 16 seats.

The presence of three ethnic-based parties in the top five are a symbolic victory for Myanmar's long-marginalised ethnic groups, although their potential clout in a post-election will likely be very limited.

The three parliaments -- the People's Parliament, the Nationalities Parliament and the Regions and States Parliament -- are set to convene within 90 days of the vote. A quarter of the seats for each had already been reserved for the military prior to the vote.

It is the winner, the USDP, which has been the target of much of the controversy that dogged the polls. A number of parties are weighing up the possibility of making a formal complaint to the EC about the USDP, but that is both expensive and dangerous, with complainants risking jail terms if unsuccessful.

However, Western countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia, along with the administrations of the European Union and the United Nations, have joined in saying the junta's elections held on November 7 were neither free nor fair and had failed to meet even the lowest standards outlined by the international community for convening a national vote.

Aung San Suu Kyi Released
Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, freed from seven years of house arrest, told thousands of wildly cheering supporters on Sunday that she would continue to fight for human rights and the rule of law in the military-ruled nation. It was feared that her detention could be extended in view of the pending declaration of the full results of the elections held on November 7 under the new constitution drafted by the military regime. Suu Kyi has completed 15 years of her detention by the military regime since 1989, when she returned from the United Kingdom and won Myanmar’s (then Burma) first democratic elections.

India has broken its deafening silence on Myanmar and welcomed pro-democracy icon and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s release.

Relations With India
The Indian policy in Myanmar has swung from one extreme to another. Initially, India supported the pro-democracy forces led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Subsequently, alarmed by the Chinese inroads into Myanmar, India swung to the other extreme of total support to the military Junta. This meant maintaining a silence on the Junta's suppression of the pro-democracy forces and its arrest and detention of Suu Kyi and its machinations to ensure that she can never come to power.

The time has come for India to adopt a more nuanced political approach while continuing the present policy of economic support to the regime. The objective of the nuanced political approach should be to nudge the Junta to respond positively to Suu Kyi's moves for a national reconciliation and enter into a dialogue with the pro-democracy forces. Another objective should be to persuade the pro-democracy forces to avoid a confrontational situation which could add to the fears of the Junta regarding internal security and stability.

Chinese Voters Play Determining Role in Sibu By-Election

Sibu will become the center of attention until 16 May when the campaign of the parliamentary by-election kick starts। The Election Commission (EC) predicts the nomination process held at Sibu Civic Center tomorrow will face problems if people fail to take heed of the advice from the commission. This is in view of the location of the nomination center which is surrounded by shop houses and residential areas.

Located about 104 km from the estuary of Rajang River - the longest river in Malaysia (773 km), Sibu is named after the Iban name of a type of rambutan (a local fruit)।

With a population of about 270,000, the town is now the center of attention because of the 11th by-election after the General Elections in March 2008।

Dominant Group
It was in this town where a 17-year-old teenager, Rosli Dhobi thrust his keris [a traditional dagger] toward the colonist governor, Sir Duncan George Stewart in 1948। Rosli and his friends were convicted and sentenced to hang in the Central Prison in 1950.

Despite its multiracial population, Sibu is better known as a Foochow town as people of Foochow (a Chinese dialect group) ethnicity form the dominant group।

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had made a right move in the effort to win the hearts of the Chinese voters by paying a friendly visit to Sungai Merah, about seven kilometers from the town of Sibu, recently।

Sungai Merah was where Foochow people settled down in 1901। A Chinese Kapitan (headman of a Chinese settlement), Wong Nai Siong wrote a letter to Governor Brooke, requesting to bring in Chinese from China. After getting an approval from Rajah (ruler) Brooke, Wong brought in Chinese in large numbers and the migration process went on until the 1950s before the Independence.

Economic Growth and Development
The major factor that had attracted Foochow people to migrate to Sibu was the ruler's liberal policies, including the award of land and rubber planting policy। Since then, the Foochow people have made massive contribution to the economic growth and development in Sibu. Their involvement in banking, shipbuilding, logging, plantation and media industries is widely acknowledged.

The Sarawakians use the word 'Foochow' to describe someone who is tough, persevering in life and who has the attitude of an entrepreneur। They own hotels, ships, express boats, and almost all important buildings in the town.

The Sibu people, especially the Foochows, are indeed famous with the skills in doing business and commerce, their readiness to work hard and their strong will inherited from their ancestors। All those qualities, the prime minister said, in addition to BN's (Barisan Nasional or National Front) commitment and capacity to implement it, are in tune with town's aspiration to develop faster, and to be acknowledged as a city eventually.

Other Factors
To take care of their welfare and interests, the Foochows founded the Sibu Foochow Association in 1902। The organization has developed rapidly and emerged as an active association in the town. In the coming by-election, the descendants of the Foochow settlers who had settled down in Sungai Merah, are among those to determine the fate of Barisan Nasional.

Two Foochow leaders will contest in the by-election on 16 May। They are Robert Lau Hui Yew from the Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) and Wong Ho Leng, the state chairman of Democratic Action Party (DAP), who is also the state assemblyman for Bukit Assek.

The 34,424 Chinese voters who constitute 66।7 percent of the 54,695 registered voters will play the determining role.

The by-election of Sibu parliamentary constituency is held following the decease of its former elected representative, Robert Lau Hoi Chew, who was also the Deputy Transport Minister, on 9 April।

Lau, 68, from SUPP won the seat in the General Elections 2008 with a majority of 3,235 votes। He defeated Wong Ho Leng and the candidate from PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat or People's Justice Party), Lim Chin Chuang.

He secured 19,138 votes whereas Wong and Lim garnered 15,903 and 812 votes respectively। Lau had been the MP for Sibu since 1990.

In the General Elections 2008, Sibu parliamentary constituency had 53,679 registered voters, constituted by the Chinese as the majority (60 percent), Melanau (20 percent), Iban (18 percent) and Orang Ulu (1।1 percent).

During his visit to Sibu, the prime minister said there may be intense competition in this by-election।

And to win the by-election, BN relies on earnest efforts to win the hearts of the voters who want development.

Thaksin To Involve International Community in Thai Politics

In addition to shouting out his "challenge" to his opponents, former Prime Minister Police Lt Col Thaksin, the defendant in the B76-billion assets-seizure case, also sent his latest message through a video-link to the participants in a seminar organized by the "Bangkok '50 Group." His message focused on the key issues and dealt a blow to every one involved in this historic court case.

In his message, Police Lt Col Thaksin clearly spelled out in threatening tone that if his assets were seized, he would fight back with all his might in 2010.

In his statement through a video-link on 22 February 2010, Thaksin said: "Today if both sides take a few steps back, Thailand will be able to return to normalcy; but if they want to crush me to death, 2010 will be a year when all hell will break loose."

Thai Judiciary System
On top of that, Police Lt Col Thaksin emphatically referred to the "charismatic person" (Privy Councilor President Gen Prem Tinnasulanon), saying that the latter sneakily ordered all state machinery, as well as the previous Election Commission, to attack him. More significantly, he indicated that the Thai judiciary system was interfered with. He said that if he would be slapped with unjust verdict on 26 February, he would try to petition the World Court!

Evidently, this was not the first time that Police Lt Col Thaksin tried to involve the international agency in his case. He has repeatedly tried to do that. When he was toppled from power by a coup in 2006, in addition to his angry diatribe against the "new power" and the charismatic person, Privy Councilor President and Statesman Gen Prem Tinnasulanon, Police Lt Col Thaksin also amplified the issue by veering into the question of justice. He rejected the Thai justice system directly in his own words and indirectly though his bosom buddy, Cambodian Prime Minister Somdet Hun Sen.

His words at the time when he was toppled from power and his words today when his assets are about to be seized might differ to some degree, particularly as he is facing the uncertain future and when it is difficult to predict the result of the court case.

Bureaucratic Polity
By mentioning the World Court amid his supporters, Police Lt Col Thaksin meant to discredit the Supreme Court that is about to rule on the assets seizure case in the next few days by demanding justice even though he did not know whether his assets would be seized or not. Moreover, he what he wanted to see after the attack on the Thai justice system is to rally his supporters to demonstrate after the verdict day. In other words, he already started his rabble-rousing campaign in advance, in case his assets might be seized.

If Police Lt Col Thaksin loses his case because his opponent chooses not to compromise and negotiate with him, or grant him amnesty despite his signals that he wanted it, Police Lt Col Thaksin's next move after the verdict day might be to elevate the issue onto the international stage and use all the multimedia channels in his hand to rally the international community again to jointly pressure the powers-that-be in Thailand.

In tandem with the red-shirted mob, he will finally resort to "the world besieging Thailand" tactic again in a bid to undermine the Thai government and the bureaucratic polity, so that he will be able to fulfill his dream of returning to power soon.

Multi-Purpose National Identity Card

The Union Government has formed an agency to steer the ambitious scheme of creating a multipurpose unique identification database of all citizens in the country. Former Infosys Deputy Chairman Nandan Nilekani has been appointed as head of the agency. With this, the Government has laid the foundation of a new era.

Idea of Multi-Purpose National Identity Card
The idea of every citizen in the country having a Multi-Purpose National Identity Card was mooted by Atal Behari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government in 2002, and was later taken up by the UPA. Thus, it would be fair to say that the project has the support of the bulk of Parliament. The Centre had already earmarked Rs 100 crore for it in the interim Budget for 2009-10 presented earlier in the year, and the Unique Identification Authority of India has already been set up. Recently, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said that the National Population Register will be ready by 2011 and Multi-Purpose National Identity Cards will be issued to all residents by 2011.

According to the plan, all citizens will have a biometric Multi-Purpose National Identity Card. Suggestions to this effect were being made for some time in view of increasing terrorist incidents. L.K. Advani, who was home minister in the National Democratic Alliance Government, often referred to such a smart card. It was also included in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) election manifesto in the 2009 general elections. Therefore, the Government and the main opposition party, the BJP, are in total agreement on the issue. An allocation of one billion rupees has been made in this year's budget to convey the union Government's determination to start the project immediately.

Outline of Project
Under this plan a database of India’s citizens will be maintained. A unique identification number will be assigned to each resident in the country that will be permanent. This project is long overdue as the necessity for it has been felt for many years. Hence, further delays are not warranted.
The outline of the project has yet to be worked out. It will be a Unique Identity Card. All details of concerned citizens will be available in the data stored. They can be easily availed through computers. It is believed that terrorists who infiltrate into the county will find it impossible to acquire such cards. They can, hence, be easily identified. At the same time, it will be useful to help track the Government's social welfare schemes.

The Unique Identity Number will be issued at first to registered voters by building on the electoral database and other persons will be progressively added. This identity card, perhaps, will make separate cards for proving identity unnecessary. For example, a citizen now requires a voter identity card, ration card, permanent account number card, passport, and below poverty line card. It is not yet known whether the Multi-Purpose National Identity Card will serve all purposes or whether others will also be required. If other documents are still required, citizens will have real trouble to keep all these cards safely.

The Implications
Undoubtedly the implications that the project has for the national security can easily be seen. In the absence of such a card it has been possible for foreign nationals such as Bangladeshis and Pakistanis to illegally migrate to our country. Some of these foreigners have been found involved in nefarious activities including terrorism. A national database with each citizen having a unique identification number will help overcome this problem of illegal immigration and will significantly help in combating terrorism. On the other hand, it will also ensure that some of the problems in the delivery of Government programmes to the intended beneficiaries are removed. The database will allow the number of people living below the poverty line to be easily identified, thus, ensuring the correct delivery of the benefits intended for them.

Election Commission’s Efforts
Despite the best efforts of the Election Commission, two-thirds of the country's populations are yet to receive their voter identity cards. A large number of the people do not have a photo-attested identity card. Hence, they cannot vote for lack of documents to proof their identity. In the last one-and-a-half decade, the Election Commission has spent billions of rupees. Yet, it has failed to provide identity cards to all citizens. How can it then be assumed that the new agency will be able to do the needful?

In view of the daily birth rate in India, it is difficult to imagine that every person will receive this unique identity card. Similarly, the death rate is high. Collecting all this information is a stupendous task. How the agency stands up to people's expectations will be seen in the days to come.