NCP readies for a tough battle, minister wants migrant voters to postpone holidays

Politicians seldom confess to an electoral fight being tough. But, of course, there are those small tell-tale signs such as overspending, over-publicising their campaigns, wooing the media friends with, what else, freebies, advertising in just about any publication, even dormant rag sheets that surprisingly come alive around elections. This time around a new sign has emerged from a politician, Ganesh Naik of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). He has told his workers that they should trace each and every North Indian in Thane district using the voters’ list and persuade them not to go home for a holiday for the summer, at least until elections are over. [caption id=“attachment_111684” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AFP Photo[/caption] They can, he told the workers, according to a report in leading Marathi daily Loksatta, assure them of a train ticket for later travel if they stayed back to vote in the Lok Sabha elections. He did not seem to have talked of a reserved ticket nor if they would be paid for. But yes, their tickets would be “guaranteed”. How he will guarantee such passage is not clear. Is he going to book special trains to destinations in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar? Or, would it be merely extra bogies on the usual, scheduled trains since, all trains, on almost all days, are crowded. It is going to be a logistical nightmare, but politicians do manage to pull these off. Ganesh Naik is a former Shiv Sena leader and holds sway over a large swathe of Thane district, especially Navi Mumbai. Not only is he a long-time MLA, a minister in Maharashtra’s alliance government, but he is also a ‘guardian minister’ which means he is a nodal person for both the government and the party for the district. That adds up to quite something. His son, Sanjiv Naik is an MP. Another, Sandeep Naik, is an MLA. His nephew, Sagar Naik is the mayor of the city in the making, Navi Mumbai; there have others from his extended family who have held the mayoral post earlier. His clout in virtual aspect of life there is palpable, making his family a political oligarchy. Had this strategy been conveyed to his workers once the elections were announced, or the model code of conduct had come into effect, it would have amounted to its breach, treated as a corrupt practice. Fortunately, he did it much ahead, like most politicians do, to escape the poll laws. Like the Bharat Nirman advertisement – paid for by the government, but plugging the Congress party. With a probable poll schedule in hand, Naik, the newspaper reported, told his party workers and other elected representatives from the district that it would be all over by April 30. Once the polling was done, the voters were free and till then, “don’t let them go to their villages” was the message. .He advocated a study of the electors’ lists, their likely supporters marked off in green ink and red ticks for those who weren’t likely to vote for them. In a political ethos where patronage to supporters and denial or much worse to the opponents, especially the voters, these lists could potentially be dangerous but there is hardly much one can complain about. Voters are identified and visited often, and induced to vote, and it is said that it helps in keeping a count of inducement in any constituency. But by this, we can easily judge that the NCP has come to a determination that the Lok Sabha 2014 is going to be a tough battle and not far from what its partner Congress thinks too. One does not yet know what such booth level action is to be expected ahead. Ganesh Naik, known for pulling all stops, seems to be ahead of others in preparations. The candidate, it is sure, would be his nominee, not the party’s.