GUWAHATI: The All Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association (AATSA) has been keeping a close eye on the political parties and leaders ahead of the upcoming LS election in order to prevent the ‘last night game’ in the tea gardens.
For long, the ‘last night game’, which involves the distribution of cash, liquor and other materials by the political parties among the tea garden voters right before the night of election, has been playing a decisive role in the elections.
The game means nothing but a way of buying of votes by the political parties to woo voters for their own political gain.
It also violates the model code of conduct (MCC), which is currently in place across the country for smooth conduct of election.
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AATSA assistant general secretary Dhiraj Gowala told G Plus: “This is not the first time we have taken up the issue of illegal distribution of cash and liquor in the gardens during election.
“We have barred the entry of any politicians and candidates contesting in the upcoming polls into the gardens after 6 PM to stop the tradition of ‘last night game’.
“We have also banned the political parties from organising meetings to campaign for their candidates in the gardens at night since the commencement of MCC.”
AATSA also wants a change in the mindset of both the political parties and the tea tribe voters, which constitute around one third of the voters in Assam.
Gowala further added: “Political parties have to change their intentions and stop treating the tea tribe community as a vote bank. They must stop the culture of buying votes, as it is bad for a healthy democracy.
“Now, some developmental works such as construction of roads by PWD, initiatives for pregnant women etc have taken place in the tea gardens. Political parties should focus on those works to convince voters.
“They should follow a minimum principle. Just giving a bottle of liquor should not be the way out to win elections.”
Gowala also said that the tea garden workers should be given the minimum wage (Rs 351) that is provided to other workers across the country.
He said: “At present, there is no uniformity on the wage of the tea garden workers in Assam. This needs to be changed.
“Tea planters, trade union and the government should made a tripartite agreement on the wage. But, there is no such agreement in Assam.”
Currently, the Dibrugarh constituency is estimated to have the highest percentage of tea tribe voters with more than 50% of the voters in that constituency coming from that tribe.
The tribe shares around 35%-40%, 25%-30%, 40%-45% of the overall vote in Jorhat, Kaliabor and Tezpur constituencies, respectively.
