South Andaman District Votes: Defeat for Kuldeep or Congress?

South Andaman District Votes

Defeat for Kuldeep or Congress?

By Zubair Ahmed

In the 16th Lok Sabha elections, Bishnu Pada Ray of Bharatiya Janata Party retained the lone seat in A&N Lok Sabha Constituency by defeating the nearest rival, Kuldeep Rai Sharma of Indian National Congress by a margin of 7812 votes..

TEHSIL	BJP	INC	LEAD
PORT BLAIR	41336	26474	14862
LITTLE ANDAMAN	4889	3665	1224
FERRAR GUNJ	13213	13412	-199
	59438	43551	15887

In this election, South Andaman District, especially Port Blair and Ferrar Gunj Tehsil voted unpredictably giving a clear cut mandate to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Was this mandate a referendum against Congress or its candidate Kuldeep Rai Sharma? asks many Congressmen.

PORT BLAIR (MUNICIPAL)	BJP	INC	LEAD
WARD-1	1590	1096	494
WARD-2	1797	1508	289
WARD-3	1491	1131	360
WARD-4	1766	1470	296
WARD-5	1257	956	301
WARD-6	1139	587	552
WARD-7	1230	888	342
WARD-8	2594	1144	1450
WARD-9	1017	537	480
WARD-10	2018	1224	794
WARD-11	1436	884	552
WARD-12	1268	1069	199
WARD-13	952	827	125
WARD-14	1380	635	745
WARD-15	925	295	630
WARD-16	1097	902	195
WARD-17	2339	1423	916
WARD-18	1511	759	752
	26807	17335	9472

Port Blair Municipal area, the bastion of Congress with its own Council in power betrayed en masse, whereas Ferrar Gunj Tehsil was a mixed bag with a small lead for Congress.

In Little Andaman, except Harminder Bay, it was a clean sweep for Bharatiya Janata Party leading in all booths.

In Port Blair Municipal area, Bishnu Pada Ray surpassed Kuldeep in all 18 wards. It is notable that PBMC is under the control of Congress with K Ganeshan as the Chairman. BJP garnered 26807 votes whereas Congress could manage only 17335 votes with BJP getting a lead of 9472 votes.

In Ward No. 7, where Kuldeep Rai Sharma resides, he could only get 888 votes whereas Bishnu got 1230 votes.

It is also observed that in all Telugu-dominated wards like Haddo and Dairy Farm, BJP had huge margin over Congress.

In Port Blair Rural, except Calicut and Sippighat, Congress lagged behind in all Panchayats. Neil and Havelock gave clear mandate to Bishnu Pada Ray. In Neil Island, Congress got 684 votes whereas BJP secured 1064 votes. In Havelock, BJP secured 1702 votes and Congress had to satisfy with just 1358 votes.

PORT BLAIR RURAL	INC	BJP	LEAD
DOLLY GUNJ	484	829	345
PAHARGAON	670	1221	551
BHATU BASTI	815	1768	953
ATTAM PAHAD	77	374	297
GARACHARMA	1100	1911	811
TEYLARABAD	350	532	182
BIMBLITAN	249	425	176
SIPPIGHAT	423	362	-61
PROTHRAPORE	1197	2156	959
BIRCHGUNJ	278	522	244
CALICUT	746	625	-121
BEODNABAD	139	371	232
RANGACHANG	346	446	100
CHIDIYAPATU	80	130	50
RUTLAND	60	43	-17
BADAKHADI	67	41	-26
STRAIT ISLAND	16	8	-8
HAVELOCK	1358	1702	344
NEIL ISLAND	684	1063	379
	9139	14529	5390

In Prothrapore, Sanjay Meshack of Aam Aadmi Party could only garner 467 votes, whereas BJP got 2156 votes and Congress 1197 votes.

In Strait Island, Rutland and Bada Khadi, Congress had a minor lead.

FERRARGUNJ TEHSIL	INC	BJP	Lead
SHOAL BAY	425	482	57
FERRAR GUNJ	776	1010	234
WIMBERLY GUNJ	1641	815	-826
MANNARGHAT	1080	298	-782
BAMBOOFLAT	1676	1553	-123
SHORE POINT	732	964	232
HOPE TOWN	938	535	-403
STEWART GUNJ	655	163	-492
MITHAKHARI	974	638	-336
TUSONABAD	1206	1024	-182
WANDOOR	1259	2623	1364
GUPTAPARA	253	430	177
CHOULDHARI	484	1270	786
NAMUNAGHAR	434	675	241
BINDRABAN	879	733	-146
	13412	13213	-199

In Ferrar Gunj Tehsil, both the parties got almost equal votes with a small margin in favour of Congress. Congress had lead in Mannarghat, Wimberly Gunj, Stewart Gunj, Bindraban, Tusonabad, Mithakhari, Bambooflat and Hope Town. In all other Panchayats, BJP secured more votes than Congress. Kuldeep gained 13412 votes and BP Ray 13213 votes with Kuldeep leading by 199 votes.

In Little Andaman, BJP secured 4889 votes whereas Congress could only garner 3665 votes. In Harminder Bay, the Nicobari tribals voted en bloc in favour of Congress. In Butler Bay, Prakash Minj secured more votes than both the national parties.

LITTLE ANDAMAN TEHSIL	INC	BJP	LEAD
BUTLER BAY	91	141	50
DUGONG CREEK	9	18	9
HARMINDER BAY	658	25	-633
HUT BAY-I	218	329	111
HUT BAY-II	171	232	61
HUT BAY-III	386	251	-135
HUT BAY-IV	245	297	52
HUT BAY-V	178	232	54
HUT BAY-VI	138	169	31
NETAJI NAGAR	215	358	143
RABINDER NAGAR -I	230	358	128
RABINDER NAGAR -II	171	199	28
RAMAKRISHNAPUR-I	171	579	408
RAMAKRISHNAPUR-II	178	590	412
RAMAKRISHNAPUR-III	267	447	180
VIVEKANANDAPUR -I	193	360	167
VIVEKANANDAPUR -II	146	304	158
	3665	4889	1224

In fact, this election was a referendum between Kuldeep Rai Sharma and Bishnu Pada Ray, and when the votes were counted, Bishnu could manage lead starting from Diglipur and the trend never changed till it reached Campbell Bay.

And, if closely observed, Bishnu could not bring a huge lead from North and Middle Andamans, and Congress party too got a fair percentage of votes from the district. But, it was Kuldeep's own home turf which provided him a taste of defeat once again. With all resources at his disposal with Zilla Parishad, majority of the Panchayats and above all, Port Blair Municipal Council, he could not surge ahead of Bishnu Pada Ray.

"Its not Congress party or its policies which has been rejected by the electorate, but Kuldeep Rai Sharma," said a senior Congress leader on anonymity. "Or, why the same trend which was there in North and Middle Andaman did not continue in South Andaman?" he asked.

Another youth leader, who also did not want to be named, said that with a safe and secure Nicobar and a small lead in Campbell Bay and a meager setback of around 6000 votes from N&MA District, why couldn't Kuldeep cover up the trail in Port Blair, his home ground?

"This is a mandate against Port Blair Municipal Council too, as we have voted out Congress in all the wards," said a jubilant BJP worker, when asked to comment on the performance of his party in Port Blair, the capital of A&N Islands.