Polling for the Vidhan Sabha's of Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir is currently underway and results will be announced in a weeks time. In many ways this election is about two states struck in varying degrees of paralysis trying to affirm their faith in democracy, one more time.
Just around the time when 'Haider' and the Jhelum floods have brought it back to the national discourse, Jammu & Kashmir might be heading into the most significant elections in its checkered democratic history . It seems that there is a real chance that the BJP might emerge as the single largest party in India's only Muslim majority province purely on the strength of performances in Jammu and Laddakh. Perhaps partly as a response to this possibility, people in the valley have come out to vote in large numbers, braving all manner of threats and turnout numbers in this election have been the highest recorded in decades. As Shekhar Gupta says, our liberal democracy is perhaps the best thing that we can offer to Kashmiris and in some ways democracy has already been the winner in this election.
Jharkhand on the other hand, has had its own share of misfortunes. In spite of being richly endowed with mineral resources, all but 3 of its 24 districts still make it to the list of the country's most backward and maoism is still a significant threat in large parts of this heavily forested state. Jharkhand's biggest failure though, in its short history of slightly more than a decade has been with the democratic process. In the 13 years since the formation of the state it has had 5 chief ministers and 9 governments, only one of them lasting more than two years, and none lasting more than three. All this interspersed with three periods of presidents rule. It also has the dubious distinction of being the only state in India's democreatic history, to have an independent MLA (Madhu Koda), as the chief minister of the state. As a result the short history of statehood has been a story of non-governance and neglect. However in spite of all of this, and in spite the fact that this is the second election in 6 months, the turnout in Jharkhand has also been impressive.
With this post I start a series covering Jharkhand, which apart from an interesting four cornered contest is also the place i call home. Digging deep into data from Jharkhands elections these last couple of weeks has been an exercise in getting reintroduced to (vaguely) familiar names, and stories long forgotten. Anyway, nostalgia is indeed a time-consuming luxury i can ill afford and best to be getting back to business.
As always we get started with a couple of quick graphics on Jharkhands political geography, just to get our bearings straight. The following graphic shows the assembly constituencies of Jharkhand colored by region and by reservation category.
The creation of Jharkhand in late 2000 was the culmination of a sustained movement for tribal identity and statehood over nearly half a century. Hence not surprising that it has one of the heaviest concentrations (28/81) of constituencies reserved for scheduled tribes.
In terms of regions it is often insightful to split Jharkhand into its five administrative divisions into which its 24 districts are divided into and consequently it is useful to understand their respective peculiarities a bit deeper.
The Santhal Pargana (land of the santhals) division on the north eastern corner of the state has a long history of assertion of tribal identity going as far back as the santhal rebellion led by the legendary brothers Sidhu and Kanu. Its headquarter Dumka is also the second capital of Jharkhand and something of a political nursery having given rise to tribal leaders like Babulal Marandi and the Soren duo.
The North Chhotanagpur or the Hazaribagh division,is where a large part of Jharkhand's coal deposits are located (Jharia, Dhanbad). It is also home to Bokaro (integrated steel plant) and Jhumri Telaiya (of mica mines and vividh bharati fame).
The Kolhan Division (also called the Chaibasa division), on the south eastern edge has the bulk of Jharkhand's mineral wealth, and a significant bulk of its industries. The country's first integrated steel plant was built by Tata Steel in Jamshedpur, which also has a host of other Tata industries.
The Palamu division, on the north east is both heavily forested and considered one of the most backward in the country and the same is true for large parts of the Ranchi division.
It may be also be noted that the concentration of scheduled tribe seats is primarily in the north-east (santhal pargana) and the south (Ranchi and Kolhan/Chaibasa). Lastly while much of Jharkhand is classified as 'naxal effected' and part of the so called red corridor. The Palamu, Hazaribagh and Ranchi divisions are often classified as worst effected.
As we will see in later posts, these regions show subtle differences in their political proclivity. The next one i intend to take a look at the results from past elections in Jharkhand and try to figure out about what pointers the past offers on Jharkhand 2014.
Just around the time when 'Haider' and the Jhelum floods have brought it back to the national discourse, Jammu & Kashmir might be heading into the most significant elections in its checkered democratic history . It seems that there is a real chance that the BJP might emerge as the single largest party in India's only Muslim majority province purely on the strength of performances in Jammu and Laddakh. Perhaps partly as a response to this possibility, people in the valley have come out to vote in large numbers, braving all manner of threats and turnout numbers in this election have been the highest recorded in decades. As Shekhar Gupta says, our liberal democracy is perhaps the best thing that we can offer to Kashmiris and in some ways democracy has already been the winner in this election.
Jharkhand on the other hand, has had its own share of misfortunes. In spite of being richly endowed with mineral resources, all but 3 of its 24 districts still make it to the list of the country's most backward and maoism is still a significant threat in large parts of this heavily forested state. Jharkhand's biggest failure though, in its short history of slightly more than a decade has been with the democratic process. In the 13 years since the formation of the state it has had 5 chief ministers and 9 governments, only one of them lasting more than two years, and none lasting more than three. All this interspersed with three periods of presidents rule. It also has the dubious distinction of being the only state in India's democreatic history, to have an independent MLA (Madhu Koda), as the chief minister of the state. As a result the short history of statehood has been a story of non-governance and neglect. However in spite of all of this, and in spite the fact that this is the second election in 6 months, the turnout in Jharkhand has also been impressive.
With this post I start a series covering Jharkhand, which apart from an interesting four cornered contest is also the place i call home. Digging deep into data from Jharkhands elections these last couple of weeks has been an exercise in getting reintroduced to (vaguely) familiar names, and stories long forgotten. Anyway, nostalgia is indeed a time-consuming luxury i can ill afford and best to be getting back to business.
As always we get started with a couple of quick graphics on Jharkhands political geography, just to get our bearings straight. The following graphic shows the assembly constituencies of Jharkhand colored by region and by reservation category.
The creation of Jharkhand in late 2000 was the culmination of a sustained movement for tribal identity and statehood over nearly half a century. Hence not surprising that it has one of the heaviest concentrations (28/81) of constituencies reserved for scheduled tribes.
In terms of regions it is often insightful to split Jharkhand into its five administrative divisions into which its 24 districts are divided into and consequently it is useful to understand their respective peculiarities a bit deeper.
The Santhal Pargana (land of the santhals) division on the north eastern corner of the state has a long history of assertion of tribal identity going as far back as the santhal rebellion led by the legendary brothers Sidhu and Kanu. Its headquarter Dumka is also the second capital of Jharkhand and something of a political nursery having given rise to tribal leaders like Babulal Marandi and the Soren duo.
The North Chhotanagpur or the Hazaribagh division,is where a large part of Jharkhand's coal deposits are located (Jharia, Dhanbad). It is also home to Bokaro (integrated steel plant) and Jhumri Telaiya (of mica mines and vividh bharati fame).
The Kolhan Division (also called the Chaibasa division), on the south eastern edge has the bulk of Jharkhand's mineral wealth, and a significant bulk of its industries. The country's first integrated steel plant was built by Tata Steel in Jamshedpur, which also has a host of other Tata industries.
The Palamu division, on the north east is both heavily forested and considered one of the most backward in the country and the same is true for large parts of the Ranchi division.
It may be also be noted that the concentration of scheduled tribe seats is primarily in the north-east (santhal pargana) and the south (Ranchi and Kolhan/Chaibasa). Lastly while much of Jharkhand is classified as 'naxal effected' and part of the so called red corridor. The Palamu, Hazaribagh and Ranchi divisions are often classified as worst effected.
As we will see in later posts, these regions show subtle differences in their political proclivity. The next one i intend to take a look at the results from past elections in Jharkhand and try to figure out about what pointers the past offers on Jharkhand 2014.
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