GTA election in Darjeeling hills remained peaceful- Polling for newly proposed autonomous body begins in W. Bengal

KalimNews, 29 July 2012: The first Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) Sabha election ended peacefully in the 17 constituencies throughout the Darjeeling district. As per the information received in Kalimpong 74 percent poll was casted. Out of 109643 electorates 81186 votes were casted of which 44032 were male and 37154 were females. 
In the polling stations of 41 no Gitdabling Nimbong Constituency the poll was very much encouraging and a little over 80 percent. In this constituency Sanchabir Subba an ex Gorkha Janmukti Morcha President is contesting against Kalyan Dewan the official candidate of GJM.
PTI, Darjeeling (WB) July 29, 2012: Voting to fill up 17 seats in the newly-formed Gorkhaland Territorial Administration in Darjeeling hills ended peacefully today.
Superintendent of Police Kunal Agarwal said there had been no untoward incident from any part of the hills.
There are a total 45 seats in the GTA 28 of which have been won uncontested by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha.
The CPI-M had earlier withdrawn from the contest. So did the Trinamool Congress, though at the last stage.
Some TMC nominees fought the election because, as they contended, they had not been communicated the party's decision of withdrawal from the contest in time.
In 14 seats at Kalimpong and Darjeeling sub-divisions, canditates of the GJM, Trinamool Congress as well as an Independent candidate contested.
The Independent candidate is contesting against the GJM candidate at Nimdong consitituency in Kalimpong.
Seventy per cent voters have exercised their francise in these constituencies.
Voters of three booths - Belgachi, Panighata and Sukna - boycotted voting.
People of Belgachi and Panighata did not vote for any of the candidates as they do not want to join GTA. People in Sukna boycotted vote as they feel there had been no development in the past few years.  

DEBASIS SARKAR, ET, SILIGURI, 29 JUL, 2012: After years long political debate and administrative complicacies, finally the first election of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration(GTA)in Darjeeling hills took place today peacefully. Though it remained just as a formality with actually only Gorklha Janamukti Morcha(GJM) candidates on the turf, administration had to carry out entire electioneering procedure in 17 out of 45 seats of the body.
"The election today remained peaceful without any major untoward incident," said DM Darjeeling Mr. S. Mohan.
"We are happy that finally we could have the election," said Mr. Roshan Giri, General Secretary of GJM. 
Interestingly, the fate of the GTA board got decided much earlier after withdrawal of candidates by all political parties including CPIM or Gorkha League raising complains against GJM for 'not allowing the election to remain a free and fair one.' Out of 45 seats, GJM won in 28 seats without any contest. But there were candidates nominated by Trinamool Congress, main ruling party of West Bengal and close friend of GJM giving birth of confusion.
But putting the confusion to an end, TMC Supremo Miss Mamata Banerjee have announced withdrawal of all these candidates on 21 stJuly. But, since official time for withdrawal of nomination was over by then, the administration had to continue with entire electioneering formalities today.
However, CPIM leader and ex state Minister Mr. Ashok Bhattacharya has labeled the election as a 'Political Drama' by an 'Unholy nexus of TMC and GJM.' Congress always preferred remaining silence on the issue. But TMC leader and North Bengal Development Minister Mr. Gautam Dev said, "After allowing Gorkha National Liberation Front, that used to rule Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council(DGHC), to remain in power year after year without election, CPIM does not have any right to complain against TMC now on this."
GTA is an autonomous body with higher financial and administrative power than a District Development Board. This is to replace DGHC, formed in 1988 for administration of hills. Conceptualized to be formed under new GTA act, GTA is the final outcome of an agreement signed in 2011 between West Bengal state Government and Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, the party that has been demanding separate statehood for Darjeeling since its upraise in 2007.

ANI, Kurseong: Polling began for the establishment pf a Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), the proposed new development body in northern hills of West Bengal, began here on Sunday amid tight security.

Scores of voters came forward to cast their vote in the Kurseong region of the state on Sunday.

A voter from Panighatta, Dibash Rai, told reporters that people, who have been fighting for the creation of a new Gorkhaland, were happy and excited.

"All of us, including the people fighting for the GTA (Gorkhaland Territorial Administration), are feeling very happy. We are getting a new experience. We are very excited, as with this poll we can take effective steps for the constitution of Gorkhaland. We hope from the councillors that they should discharge their duties properly and help in forming the Gorkhaland," said Dibash Rai.

The election would be held in three hill sub-divisions, Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong.

Nearly 5,90,855 voters would franchise for 45 seats out of which the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), an outfit demanding autonomous region of Gorkhaland in West Bengal have already won 28 seats unopposed.

Earlier, the elections for GTA were held in the year 1990.

Gorkhas, who are ethnic Nepalis, are demanding a separate state of "Gorkhaland" be carved out of West Bengal state's Darjeeling region to protect their Himalayan culture and heritage, and protests have picked up again this month.

Meanwhile, the security personnel were deployed in the polling regions to avert any untoward incidents.

"The situation is stable over here. The situation is normal and peaceful. No, we haven't received any information about any untoward incident," said Sub-Divisional Police Officer, (SDPO) Kurseong, Nima Norbu Bhutia.

Earlier, the Chief of GJM, Bimal Gurung and his associates met the federal Home (interior) Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram on June 26, where they had spoken about participation in elections to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), the proposed new development body in the hills region of northern West Bengal.

He mentioned that that they had put forward the proposal for the recruitment for the Gorkhaland Personnel (GLP) to enable the autonomous region's own security force.

The Gorkhaland movement that began in 1980s had ended with a truce between the then Gorkha leader Subhash Ghising and New Delhi, after he accepted limited autonomy in 1988 with a new Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC).

At least 1,200 people died in the first Gorkhaland campaign, but protests ended a few years later after Gorkha leaders accepted limited autonomy.

Darjeeling hills region is geo-politically and strategically important for India as it lies close to the borders of China, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.