Kolkata, May 25 (PTI) CPI(M) will contest all the 45 seats of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) in the upcoming elections to the semi-autonomous body governing the hills in northern West Bengal, the party’s state secretary Mohammed Salim said on Wednesday.
The elections to GTA, which administers the Himalayan region in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts, will be held on June 26 and votes will be counted on June 29.
Observing that CPI(M) leaders had an idea that very little time would be given to political parties to prepare themselves for the GTA elections after the dates of the polls were declared, Salim said they would bring together not only all Left-inclined people but also those wouldn’t be “purchased” by the BJP or the Trinamool Congress.
“The elections will be held within a month. There is a very short time, but we will be contesting the polls. We knew that the poll body would give us very little time for preparations, as they had done during civic elections and by-polls. So, we have started our preparations,” Salim told reporters here.
“We will bring together all Left-inclined people, and also those who will not sell themselves to the BJP or the TMC,” Salim said.
He said CPI(M) leaders would be present at the all-party meeting called by the poll body on Thursday and present their views.
Taking a dig at Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) supremo Bimal Gurung for starting an indefinite hunger strike to press for the deferment of the GTA polls and inclusion of more areas under the body’s jurisdiction, Salim said that the Gorkha leader was doing this “drama” as he was scared that the election would end the ongoing “loot” in the GTA.
“Can you please tell me which political party he represents now? I can not understand that. He was once the all-in-all of the GTA. When there were no elections he did not sit on any hunger strike. But, now that the polls have been declared he has started this drama. He is doing this because if the elections are held, the looting will not be possible anymore,” the CPI(M) leader said.
Salim said he will travel to Siliguri to take part in a meeting of the Darjeeling district committee.
The elections to GTA, formed in 2011 to administer Darjeeling hills, were last held in 2012. The GJM had swept the polls, winning all 45 seats.
Darjeeling, often referred to as the ‘Queen of the Hills’, has witnessed several political parties over the years promising a separate Gorkhaland state and implementation of the Sixth Schedule, which grants autonomy to a tribal-inhabited region. PTI SCH ACD ACD
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