The incumbency bug did not bother the Left Front in Kolkata while it swept through the rest of the country, the heartland in particular. West Bengal not only gave 35 LS seats to the coalition that has ruled the state for 27 years, but also decimated the principal opposition of the Trinamool Congress-BJP.
The clean sweep by the Left and rout of the Trinamool has stunned many. Insiders put it down to the near foolproof “election machinery” driven by seasoned apparatchiks with unflinching commitment. The Marxists are today reaping the windfall of a carefully orchestrated campaign that had been set into well-oiled motion the day the candidates’ names were announced. The LF scored over rivals by choosing all its candidates on March 1 itself, just a day after the EC announced elections, giving its men a headstart. The precision engines purred promptly.
On Day One, all Front members went into a huddle, separately and then collectively. Loyal partymen and leaders were handpicked for each Assembly segment of all 42 LS seats and assigned a specific task, followed by a solemn pledge to fulfil it. “Then followed no-nonsense pep talks by the bigwigs, who urged the handpicked workers to come clean on their reservations about any candidate. Anyone with any reservation was told to sit out rather than resort to moonshining,” a senior Forward Bloc leader and minister from North Bengal said. This was to eliminate chances of “sabotage”, which had raised its head in the 1998 and 1999 elections with the shock defeats in Dum Dum and Panskura.
{{/usCountry}}On Day One, all Front members went into a huddle, separately and then collectively. Loyal partymen and leaders were handpicked for each Assembly segment of all 42 LS seats and assigned a specific task, followed by a solemn pledge to fulfil it. “Then followed no-nonsense pep talks by the bigwigs, who urged the handpicked workers to come clean on their reservations about any candidate. Anyone with any reservation was told to sit out rather than resort to moonshining,” a senior Forward Bloc leader and minister from North Bengal said. This was to eliminate chances of “sabotage”, which had raised its head in the 1998 and 1999 elections with the shock defeats in Dum Dum and Panskura.
{{/usCountry}}The “loyalty pledge” was followed by deployment of “informers” from among the ranks. These informers kept the leadership posted about any “betrayal” or “mischief”, the leader said. In the next round of management, all LF partners committed their material contribution to the effort. This was in the form of printed posters, wall-writing, cutouts and graffiti, rallies and door-to-door campaigns and disbursing propaganda material, explained an election agent of the Left candidate from West Midnapore. “A physical scrutiny of the contribution actually made was done,” he said.