Nicobar District: Invincible Congress Citadel

Nicobar District:

Invincible Congress Citadel

By Zubair Ahmed

Irrespective of who won the last two elections, or for that case, the last 12 General Elections from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Nicobar has voted only for Congress consistently without any remorse.

Bishnu Pada Ray did try to break into the fortified citadel of Congress, by raising the issue of exploitation by EHL and highlighting the plight of a few destitute Nicobari tribals, but, he could not succeed.

To break the jinx, a Nicobari sportswoman was coaxed to contest the elections with covert support from a few political parties, but the elders and leaders of the tribe foiled the attempt by putting enough pressure on her to retract from her plans.

And Nicobar once again proved that they are with Congress, whatever Bishnu Pada Ray say or do. Congress conquered Nicobar Tehsil by securing 9118 and BJP could only manage 541 votes. BJP could only make a mark in two booths - Arong, where a few Congress insiders had revolted against the party and Headquarters, where most of the voters were non-tribals.

B.NO	NICOBAR TEHSIL	INC	BJP	LEAD
327	MUS	871	6	865
328	KINMAI	334	9	325
329	BIG LAPATHI	592	20	572
330	SMALL LAPATHY	616	10	606
331	CHUKCHUCHA	732	19	713
332	TAPOIMING	460	7	453
333	KENYUKA	697	16	681
334	PERKA	611	53	558
335	TAMALOO	868	27	841
336	MALACCA	778	13	765
337	PERKA-HQ	408	197	211
338	TEETOP	324	2	322
339	SAWAI	560	16	544
340	ARONG	492	130	362
341	KIMIOUS	271	5	266
342	KAKANA	504	11	493
		9118	541	8577

In Nancowry Tehsil, Congress got a lead of 3877 votes by securing 4582 votes while BJP got 705 votes. In Milldera booth, BJP had a lead of 50 votes. In Kamorta too, BJP performed well by securing 249 votes.

B. NO	NANCOWRY TEHSIL	INC	BJP	LEAD
343	KUITASUK,CHOWRA	783	3	780
344	BENGALI VILLAGE	194	16	178
345	ENAM	133	2	131
346	MINYUK	144	5	139
347	CHUKMACHI	195	4	191
348	ALURONG	157	4	153
349	KALASI	227	4	223
350	PILPILLOW	192	3	189
351	KAKANA	162	2	160
352	DARING	101	2	99
353	CHANGHUA	86	5	81
354	VIKAS NAGAR	87	3	84
355	CHAMPIN	232	7	225
356	HITUI	104	4	100
357	TAPONG	149	7	142
358	KAMORTA	359	249	110
359	MUNAK	164	2	162
360	CHOTA INAK	158	62	96
361	MEENAKSHI RAMNAGAR	182	9	173
362	MILLDERA	198	248	-50
363	JAPAN TIKREY	308	51	257
364	E-WALL	110	11	99
365	E.B.KATCHAL	157	2	155
		4582	705	3877

Campbell Bay was a surprise for BJP as they had expected a few votes more than the Congress. However, Congress had a lead of 180 votes. BJP secured 1681 votes and Congress got 1861 votes.

Just before the elections, Bishnu Pada Ray had alleged about selective eviction of encroachers in Campbell Bay, which BJP had thought to have struck a chord with the voters there. But, once again Nicobari tribals in a few Islands came to the rescue of Congress.

B.NO.	CAMPBELL BAY TEHSIL	INC	BJP	LEAD
366	AFRA BAY	74	1	73
367	PILLOLOW	69	3	66
368	PILLOBHA	26	4	22
369	PILOPATIA	8	4	4
370	PILOPANJA	56	1	55
371	MAKACHUA	57	1	56
372	CAMPBELL BAY-I	241	205	36
373	CAMPBELL BAY-II	437	243	194
374	CAMPBELL BAY - III	73	146	-73
375	RAJIV NAGAR	101	142	-41
376	CAMPBELL BAY-IV	144	184	-40
377	NEW CHINGAM	1	1	0
378	MAGARNALLAH	30	7	23
379	GOVINDNAGAR-I	102	134	-32
380	GOVINDNAGAR-II	47	61	-14
381	JOGINDER NAGAR	196	301	-105
382	LAXMINAGAR	28	58	-30
383	GANDHI NAGAR	135	140	-5
384	SHASTRI NAGAR	34	40	-6
385	LAWFUL BAY, SHOMPEN HUT	2	2	0
386	LAWFUL BAY	0	3	-3
		1861	1681	180

Despite the solidarity with Congress shown by the Nicobari Tribals in Harminder Bay, Car Nicobar, Nancowry and even Campbell Bay, the party due to its dismal performance in South Andaman could not send its candidate to the Parliament in this elections. Only time will tell, whether Congress could hold its stronghold over the Tribals till next elections.