CHANDIGARH, June 2: The victory of the ruling Akali Dal in the Qila Raipur Vidhan Sabha by-election, which coincided with the completion of Badal government's 100 days in office, is a reiteration of the earlier mandate given by the people in Vidhan Sabha polls.

The margin of victory belied the predictions of a `keen contest' in the polls in which opposition parties cutting across party lines had pooled their resources against the Akali Dal led by Prakash Singh Badal. ``It is a victory of consistency over politics of opportunism,'' said a senior Akali leader.

This election was distinct from the Vidhan Sabha general election in February in the sense that ideological issues were put on the back burner by the Akalis.

The Congress was not in the race and the party preferred to support the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in an effort to form a secular front which included the CPI too. The radical Akali Dal (Amritsar) led by Simranjit Singh Mann also joined the ``secular'' bandwagon.

Badal and other senior party leaders debated mainly the development issues. There was no reference to the demand for autonomy or the issues concerning Punjab including territorial and river water disputes. There was no reference to terrorism. It was development all the way this time.

``The politics of sops adopted by Badal has clearly given him the advantage'', said a political analyst. The poll result is also seen as a mandate on the performance of the Badal government. It is a different matter that Qila Raipur is a traditional Akali seat which was won in 1992 by the CPI(M) in the election boycotted by the major Akali factions.

The arithmetic of votes in this by-election has also gone in favour of the Akali Dal as compared to the February election. Badal polled 38,522 votes in February from this seat. He vacated this seat in favour of Lambi necessitating the by-election. Tarsem Jodhan of the CPI(M) got 27,500 votes, Simranjit Singh Mann had 15,377 votes in its kitty while Jagdev Singh Jassowal put up by the Congress had finished fourth with 4,716 votes. All the four combined had polled 47,593 votes. Jodhan, who was fielded again by the CPI(M) in the by-election, got 37,627 votes in this election which is about 10,000 less votes of the combine opposition as compared to the last election. Jagdish Singh Garcha of the ruling party won with 48,071 votes. Both the Congress and the Akali Dal (Amritsar) extended support to the CPI(M) in this election. However, the thinking in the CPI(M) is that the support base of the party has strengthened as Jodhan got about 10,000 more votes.

The poll result has also exposed the politics of convenience and opportunism adopted by the CPI(M) by way of taking the support of the party whose track record has been of demanding ``Azadi''. The CPI(M) has been the major votary of maintaining the nation's unity and integrity all these years. And Congress has been synonymous with corruption for the CPI(M).

The CPI(M) has been claiming that the party never sought the support of the Congress and it was the Congress which at its own decided to support Jodhan. However, this claim of the CPI(M) was rebutted by former chief minister and leader of the Congress Legislature Party Rajinder Kaur Bhattal saying it was the CPI(M) leadership which approached the Congress high command. For her, the new permutation and permutation was precursor to the formation of a secular front at the national level to confront the communal forces represented by the BJP and its allies.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.