Lukewarm response to GTA election in Darjeeling, 38% polling till 1 p.m.

Gorkha Janamukti Morcha leader Bimal Gurung says that he will not cast his vote and is boycotting the election.

Darjeeling hills woke up to a foggy monsoon morning on Sunday when polling for Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) election was conducted after almost 10 years. Even as the weather in the hlls improved and skies cleared, the enthusiasm among the people for election to the regional autonomous body remained missing. In the politically sensitive hills, where candidates riding on popular sentiment record huge margins of victory, there was no queues visible in the first few hours of polling.

The streets in Darjeeling hills wore a deserted look and many shops, including those located in prominent areas like Mall, remained closed.

At Singhmari, which was the epicentre of the violence during the 100-day-strike in the hills in 2017, Gorkha Janamukti Morcha leader Bimal Gurung arrived early in the morning. Before he entered his party office, he said that he would not cast his vote and was boycotting the election. Mr. Gurung said that it was up to the people to decide whether they wanted to cast their vote or not.

At the picturesque St. Joseph College in Darjeeling, there were three polling booths for ward number 29 of the GTA. The polling till 10 a.m. was not even 10 % at the three booths.

Manoj Thapa, a local who had come to vote at the college said that not many people were enthusiastic about the GTA polls. “The polling will not be more than 50%,” he said.

As the day advanced, more people started trickling in at the polling stations and some voters were seen to overcome challenges to exercise their franchise. 70-year-old Subrata Saha, a Darjeeling resident, who had suffered a stroke a few years ago and can barely walk was brought inside the polling centre to vote. He said that he had been voting for every elections and did not want to miss the opportunity this time.

Pemba Sherpa, an independent candidate for ward number 29, admitted that polling percentage would be low “Since there has been some demands about scrapping GTA, people are not enthusiastic to cast their vote,” he said.