GTA polls: Hamro Party to contest in all 45 seats
Darjeeling: Ending all speculations, Ajoy Edwards, President, Hamro Party (HP) announced that the party will be taking part in Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) elections and will contest in all 45 seats. Edwards will be contesting from Darjeeling Sadar 3. All 45 in the fray will file nominations on Friday, the last day for filing.
"We waited till the last day just to see the reaction of the masses. When we saw that there are more than 200 candidates in the fray, it was evident that the public wanted elections. We then decided to take part to end corruption and nepotism and break the 35 years of misrule," stated Edwards.
Incidentally, BJP and its allies (GNLF, CPRM, AIGL) are not taking part in GTA elections. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) too is not taking part. However, there are allegations that they have propped up independent candidates.
Edwards stated that the GTA is a development agency and if the funds are utilised judiciously, a lot can be achieved in the health, education sectors and infrastructure development.
"Ladakh was made into a Union Territory yet the autonomous council is functional. This is a golden opportunity to establish good governance by ending the nexus between corrupt politicians and contractors," stated Edwards.
The second last day of nominations saw heavy-weights from the Hills, including former GTA Chairman, Binoy Tamang filing nominations from the Trinamool Congress. Former GTA Chairman Anit Thapa, president of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajantrik Morcha also filed nominations from Sitong-Latpanchar and Kurseong-Giddeypahar constituencies.
"If voted to power we will table a proposal for Gorkhaland in the first GTA sabha meeting. The GTA MOA and Act," stated Thapa.
The TMC will be making public the party election manifesto soon after the formation of an election committee. "At many places, land documents have been handed out, there are still some pending. We will look into this. During agitation, people were asked not to pay electricity bills by a political party. There are pending bills with interest payable. We have requested the Chief Minister to at least waive the interest on the pending bills to ease the burden on the public. We assure good governance if voted to power," added TMC Rajya Sabha MP Shanta Chettri.
