It was Garhwal then and now is Madhevapura, Karnataka

SUNIL NEGI

After the vociferous leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s exposure of the wrongdoings in the Madhevapura assembly constituency in Karnataka in the previous parliamentary elections in his meticulous power point press conference in New Delhi making startling revelations about a lakh votes manipulated to score an arbitrary victory thus openly throwing to winds the constitutional norms giving clear cut instances of fake , duplicate votes being cast and several other deliberate corrupt practices executed in league with the powers that be, I am reminded of the massive malpractices committed during the 1982 byelection of Garhwal Parliamentary election from where contested the then Democratic Party leader Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna who had resigned in protest as the Congress MP from Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabha seat after developing differences with the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

The Garhwal Lok Sabha election was construed as the prestige issue for Indira Gandhi whose candidate Chandra Mohan Singh Negi was contesting against political stalwart Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna and the former wanted that Bahuguna is defeated at all costs as she was afraid of him being her strongest competitor and future replacement.

At Indira Gandhi’s behest then, the entire central government machinery was put to work in Garhwal constituency with the then home minister Gyani Zail Singh, Madhya Pradesh CM Arjun Singh, Himachal CM Thakur Ram Lal, Haryana CM Bhajan Lal , Punjab CM Darbara Singh, Union minister Jagdish Tytler and several central ministers with lots of money were found dispatched to Garhwal constituency to ensure Bahuguna’s defeat.

Entire Garhwal Lok Sabha constituency stretched from Pauri to Badrinath Kedarnath to Dehradun Mussourie was packed with Congress political workers from all the states of the country with Haryana playing a major role in toppling this prestigious byelection.

Just imagine that on the one hand was Bahuguna alone with a handful of opposition leaders visiting Garhwal campaigning for him and on the other, the entire central government and five states machinery fully backed by the then PM Indira Gandhi.

When despite so much concentration of power couldn’t fetch a positive outcome for the High command the then PM allegedly, the elections were rigged and several polling booths looted with chaos and fear everywhere.

The hooligans wearing police uniforms rigged the elections and the system was a mere spectator. The police thrashed those who opposed them. There was opposition and sensitisation all around.

Since there was only government sponsored AIR and Doordarshan then, all the news were censored but it was BBC that came to opposition candidate Bahuguna’s rescue transparently.

The entire Garhwal heard the BBC’s shocking revelations of booth capture news threadbare and the next day the newspapers were full of the shocking exposure of massive booth capture. Then the chief election commissioner was B.L.Shakdhar.

Bahuguna spoke to him and brought the rigging in Garhwal election to his notice. He asked Bahuguna to furnish the evidence forthwith. The former chief minister of Uttarakhand Vijay Bahuguna was then the senior advocate in Alahabad Court. He immediately involved himself on the job and collected definite and credible evidence placing them before the then chief election commissioner BL Shakdar who did not bowed towards any pressure and held the then ruling political dispensation responsible for the wrong doings ordering another byelection and Bahuguna won with a margin of 29 thousand votes, being a huge debacle to the then PM Indira Gandhi with all the national dailies giving the banner heading front page news making Bahuguna the hero and symbol of saviour of democracy.

This instance is being given here because despite so much of rigging etc the then election Commission and the CEC was not under the pressure or influence of the then PM or government and accorded full justice to an independent candidate of a byelection H.N. Bahuguna . This was forty three years ago.

Today, unfortunately despite the leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi holding a press conference credibly bringing forth the clear cut cases and instances of massive fake voting and corrupt means to duplicate the votes and eliminate the genuine voters from the voting list etc the election commission is mum and asking the opposition leader to furnish an affidavit which if found wrong would invite penalization.

Doesn’t this sound unfair and absolutely undemocratic in a democratic society in which an official opposition leader has full right to vociferously speak and put credible evidence in support of his or her contention which Rahul Gandhi dis very efficiently and ably. Didn’t he, but the EC is mum, unfortunately ?