Congress under threat ahead of ADC polls

FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

IMPHAL May 4: Deputy chief minister Gaikhangam Gangmei who is also the president of the state unit of the ruing Congress has admittd thast his party cannot field candidates in all seats in Tamnglong and Sepatu districfts. Talking to reporters he said that this is because of the fact that the tiol Socialist Council of galim (Isak-Muivah) and the United ga Council had threatened all the candidates.

He was speaking to reporters at  the Congress office on Monday while releasing the mes of the Congress candidates for the Autonomous District Council polls shceduled on June 1.

He is confident of winning majority of the seats in the rest of the three districts. He said that some prospective candidates made tearful requests to him to field them as the Congress candiates in these two districts. However he had to take the painful decision since the life and security of the politicians are more important. These politicians will be asked to contest as independents.

The two groups had objected to the ASC polls held last time after a gap of 20 years. In a pubic meeting it was  announced that the election was null and void. In view of the threats the elected members have been uble to stay in their homes and mix with the people who had elected them. They were allowed to file their nomition papers in an office in Imphal and all the elected members were lodged in a safe house here. However one ADC member was shot dead last year while he was rushing to UKhrul district to meet the dying mother. Six persons incl;uding two school girls were killed and 8 others were wounded when a bomb meant to attack the safe house had exploded prematurely. There had been some other attempts to assassite them.

Knowledgeable circles say that there will be no difference this time the Congress is banned from the elections. The government has also been uble to provide armed security to these members on the pretext of shortage of manpower.

The main players are the Congress, the BJP and the ga People’s Front. In the last ASC elections the Congress got walk over since other caniddates did not come up in view of the ban order. The BJP has no elected member in Manipur. The NPF which had origited from galand had won 4 MLAs in Manipur in the last  elections. It is expecting to win most of the seats in the ga inhabited areas.