Kolkata: A Minister of the Left Front government in West Bengal has openly favoured early elections to the State Assembly following the setback that the ruling Left Front suffered in the recent by-elections. There is already an opinion within the rling CPI(M) that the winds are against the ruling party consistently, and the better thing would be to call for early elections to the state assembly and try to get a mandate. The counter-opinion within in the CPM is to wait it out and hope that Mamta Banerjee or her party, the Trinamool Congress, makes a mistake which would give them a fighting chance in an election.

Minister for Fisheries Kironmoy Nanda, who belongs to the West Bengal Socialist Party, a constituent of the Left Front, told reporters that the verdict of the people is obviously against the ruling coalition and that seeking a fresh mandate is essential.

The Bengal Socialist Party has 4 MLAs in the State Assembly.

Nanda said in no uncertain terms that “we need to accept the debacle and go for early elections to seek the people’s mandate.” In fact, he stressed, this should have been done “right after the Lok Sabha elections in 2009.”

He said that it is better for the Left Front to sit in the Opposition if it lacks the support of the people of the West Bengal.

Kironmoy Nanda even went to the extent of admitting that “we are losing the confidence of the voters” even as the victory margins of the Opposition are “rising steadily.”

He warned the partners of the Left Front that that the government will not be able to “deal firmly with” the growing lawlessness in the State or implement the development agenda successfully in the “deadlock situation” that exists now.

Kironmoy Nanda said that his party would write to Biman Bose, chairman of the Left Front, seeking a discussion on the situation after the recent by-elections.

Another Minister of the Left Front government, Kshiti Goswami, of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), however differed with Kironmoy Nanda.

Describing what Kironmoy Nanda said in favour of early elections as his “personal opinion,” Kshiti Goswami argued that the Left Front needs to review “the entire situation arising out of the steady erosion of its strength.”

Early polls, Goswami added, is not the right choice and any abrupt dissolution of the government could lead to “trouble all round.”

Elections to the West Bengal Assembly are to be held, in the normal course, in 2011.

However, Mamata Banerjee, president of the Trinamool Congress, the chief Opposition party in West Bengal, has been demanding invocation of Article 356 of the Constitution and resignation of the West Bengal Chief Minister following the Left Front’s poll debacle.

In the by-elections, the CPM, the main constituent of the Left Front, lost in all 5 seats it had contested.

According to reports, leaders of the CPM are much worried about the big increase in the victory margins of the Opposition parties, especially those of the Trinamool Congress.

Meanwhile, Pranab Mukherjee, Union Finance Minister and president of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, has remarked that the Left Front government in West Bengal has lost the people’s support and that a majority of the people of the State are now in favour of the Congress-Trinamool Congress alliance.

The election results have left the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main Opposition, more weakened in the first electoral test held after the general elections to Parliament in May 2009.

In Maharashtra, a state having much political significance, the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance won 144 seats in the 288-member Assembly.
The BJP was victorious in 46 seats.

In the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, the Congress had a thumping victory – by bagging 42 seats of 60 seats.

However, in Haryana, the Congress could not put up a good performance, with the main Opposition party, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), climbing from just 9 seats in the 2005 Assembly elections to 31 seats this time. The Congress won 40 seats.

Though the Congress is the biggest party in Haryana, having won 40 out of the 90 seats, it is still being short of the halfway mark.

Many senior Congress leaders said they are happy with the outcome of the polls overall, but admitted that they had expected a more emphatic win.

There were wild scenes of jubilation outside the national headquarters of the Congress in New Delhi.

V Narayanasamy, Congress party general secretary and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, reacted to the poll outcome, saying that the results in Maharashtra, Arunachal Pradesh and Haryana have shown that the Congress is “the only party working for the welfare of the people.” The BJP, he added, is not just “down’ but also “almost out” of the national political scene.

According to him, the poll outcome is also a mandate given by the people for the “able leadership” of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well as party general secretary and MP Rahul Gandhi.

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, BJP spokesman, blamed the electronic voting machines for the party’s debacle, remarking that the electronic voting machines had turned out to be “electronic victory machines” for the Congress.

However, Ravi Shankar Prasad, another spokesman for the BJP, said the party is “conceding the defeat with humility,” adding that the results were unexpected and the party should “honestly ponder over” its weaknesses and should act fast.

In a major upset in Maharashtra, Ramdas Kadam, Shiv Sena’s Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, lost to the NCP candidate.

In Arunachal Pradesh, the ruling Congress party will form a government on its own, after having swept the elections.

The results in Haryana turned out to be rather embarrassing for Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who had called the elections seven months ahead of schedule, in the hope of benefiting from the Congress’ win in the May 2009 Lok Sabha elections, when the party had bagged 9 seats out of 10 seats.

Four ministers in Haryana – Transport Minister Mange Ram Gupta, Finance Minister Birender Singh, Cooperation Minister Meena Mandal and Education Minister A C Chaudhary – got defeated, as did Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president Phool Chand Mullana.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda says he is confident of forming government, but Om Prakash Chautala, president of the Indian National Lok Dal, is of the opinion that the State Governor should invite the Opposition parties first and give them a chance to form government.

The Congress’ list of 56 candidates includes 2 women and 6 first-time contestants. The Arunachal Pradesh Assembly has a total of 60 seats.

The elections to the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly will take place along with elections in Haryana and Maharashtra.

The names of 9 sitting MLAs are out of the Congress list, ands the names of candidates for 4 constituencies – Palin, Pakke-Kessang, Namsai and Yachuli – are   yet to be finalisd owing to alleged internal squabbles in the state unit of the party.

The sitting Congress MLAs who have been denied ticket are: Tani Loffa (Seppa West), Kito Sora (Along East), Nyato Rigia (Taliha), Wangnia Pongte (Changlang North), Tadik Chije (Mechuka), Thajom Aboh (Khonsa West), Kamthok Lowang (Khonsa East), the monk-turned politician TG Rinpoche (Lumla), and Minister Atum Welly (Seppa East).

According to the list released by the All-India Congress Committee (AICC), Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, former chief minister Gegong Apang, his son and former union minister Omak Apang, Finance Minister Kaliko Pul, Home Minister Jarbom Gamlin, and Public Works Minister Nabam Tuki have been re-nominated as candidates from their respective constituencies.
Pomaya Mithi, wife of former chief minister Mukut Mithi, has been chosen to contest from the Roing constituency, which had been represented by her husband.

Six out of the 9 BJP MLAs who joined the Congress recently have found a place in the Congress list this time. The 6 are: Tapang Taloh (Pangin), RT Khunjuju (Bomdila), Chow Tewa Mein (Chowkham), Bosiram Siram (Pasighat East), Kipa Babu (Itanagar), and Kameng Dolo (Chayangtajo).

The BJP is yet to announce a decision on sitting MLAs Techi Hemu (Pakke-Kessang) and Balo Raja (Palin).

While the BJP will contest in about 50 seats, it has decided to support non-Congress candidates in the rest of the seats, Tai Tagak, a spokesman of the BJP said.

Some of the sitting MLAs of the Congress and Independent MLAs who were not included in the list of 56 Congress candidates are in touch with the BJP for ticket, Tagak added.

He said the BJP had already released the first list of 17 candidates and would release the full list by September 17, 2009.

In the last Arunachal Pradesh Assembly elections held in 2004, the BJP had put up candidates in 39 out of the total 60 seats. The party had then won 9 seats and also won, for the first time, the post of the Leader of the Opposition.

In the forthcoming elections, many smaller political parties too have put up candidates. They include Trinamul Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA), Lok Bharati, Naga People’s Front (NPF), and the Janata Dal (United).

Mohammad Khatami’s presence in the elections now is seen as a critical juncture for the Islamic Republic and its relations with the outside world according to analysts.

“I strongly announce my candidacy in the election,” the cleric, 65, told reporters at the launch of a website for his political group, the Combatant Clergy Assn. “I had no hesitation from the very beginning.”

Iran’s political infrastructure is compartmentalized into theocracy and democracy. Regular elections are held for parliament candidates and presidency and all are vetted for loyalty by a powerful committee of jurists and clerics. But the ultimate power over military and security lies under the powerful leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

And in his speeches Mr. Khamenei was clearly more biased towards Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Mohammad Khatami’s declaration came as Iran prepares to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution this week.

If he is to take the next presidency of Iran then, as described by US President Barack Obama, he would ‘unclench the fist’ and improve Iran’s relations with U.S. Having said that, it would clearly mean that Iran will have to give up its nuclear ambitions. According to Iran it would develop Nuclear energy for civil purposes but it is suspected to do otherwise.

“The differences between Khatami and Ahmadinejad are bigger than between Obama and McCain,” said Mustafa Tajzad, a former minister. “The results of the Iranian election will matter for the whole world.”

During his eight-year stint as President from 1997-2005, Mohammad Khatami’s agenda was not in compliance with the clerics. His reformist allies in Parliament were barred from running for re-election, dozens of his allies were jailed, and pro-democracy publications were shut down.

“We feel instinctively that people are reformists now, especially after such bad government by Ahmadinejad. Poor people who used to support him have turned against him,” said Muhammad Atrianfar, a close ally. He also is optimistic about Khatami’s win this time which he revealed in talks with the Guardian Council.

It is not yet clear if the Guardian Council, a committee of clerics which is close to the supreme leader, has allowed the participation of Khatami in the upcoming elections.

Some fear Mohammad Khatami may have harmed his chances by hesitating for so long over whether to throw his hat into the ring, reinforcing his image as a has-been.

Ali Motahari, a leading conservative member of Parliament and an outspoken critic of Mr. Ahmadinejad, said in an interview with the daily newspaper Etemad Melli in January 2009, that although Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may not be deep in his thinking but the conservative politicians who criticizes his policies will now unite behind him.

“We prefer a reformed Ahmadinejad to Mr. Khatami,” he told the newspaper.

“Mr. Khatami would not be an appropriate president and there might be riots again if he gets elected,” he warned, referring to the pro-democracy demonstrations during Mr. Khatami’s presidency.

Khatami’s biodata:

NAME — Mohammed Khatami.

AGE — 65.

EDUCATION — Bachelor’s degree in philosophy, Isfahan University; also attended seminary at Isfahan.

CURRENT JOB — Head of the Tehran-based Baran Foundation, a think tank that promotes domestic and global dialogue.

POLITICAL PAST — President of Iran, 1997-2005; Cabinet member, 1981-1991; legislator, 1980-81.

FAMILY — Wife, Zohreh Sadeghi; two daughters; son.

QUOTE — “People want freedom. The most important manifestation of freedom is the exercise of their sovereign right to determine their own destiny,” Khatami told supporters in March 2008 in response to a decision to bar many reformists from running in parliamentary elections.