& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Good Luck Mirpur
A larger-than-life by-election is being held today What should have been a normal process of Oiling up a vacant seat in the parliament has turned into a serious contest between our two principal political parties. The reasons for the importance of this by-election are many. Unlike the three earlier ones where the AL recaptured its previously held seats, this one is the first which is being fought in a previously BNP held area If the BNP wins, status quo is maintained. If, on the contrary, the AL wins, then it could be taken as a negative verdict on the performance of the government. Or at least, this is how the opposition AL would like to present it. And. somehow, the BNP seems to have reasoned the same way Otherwise, why should the BNP attach so much Importance for one seat which will neither threaten its majority to foftn government nor cause any problems in the voting pattern inside the House? Yet. the BNP government thought it fit to postpone the PM's state visit to France, risking the ire of the protocol conscious French President who is. after all. now the se-niormost head of state in the Western world.
As by-elections go. the Mirpur seat is definitely very important. Yet we feel that too much is being made of its impending outcome. A BNP defeat, if at all comes about, will be a political rebuff no doubt, but Is not likely to be as disastrous as it is being feared. In fact it might actually be a blessing in disguise A defeat may help to break the sense of complacency in which BNP had couched itself ever since its surprise victory in February '91. It may actually trigger the type of bold action by Begum Zia that many of her senior party members. and those who are more in touch with the grassroots workers, have been clamouring for. We Fear that because both the parties attached tremendous significance to this election, both of them tried very hard to win it. And when too much effort is made to win a particular election, the likelihood of bending rules, democratic norms, and election regulations becomes very high.
We are not at an certain, if in the anxiety to save political face, too much money was not spent in this election. Similarly voter intimidation, coercion. or even vote buying may take place. Possibility of all this occurring rises when parties become too eager to win. ana too much shame is attached to defeat. After all, in every election, there has to be a winner and. at least, a loser. We suggest a serious attempt at a post mortem of the Mirpur by-election by the Election Commission to dispel rumours that far more than permitted amounts of funds were spent there.
A lesson that we must leam from this by-election concerns how much the ruling party should be allowed to use the promise of government funds for development of an area as an election pledge. Does it not amount to using public funds to create party support? Some of it is inevitable, we know. But much of it can be curbed. And it should be for the sake of fairness in elections, and for the growth of healthy democratic norms. The reverse case of threatening to punish the voters of an area, as recently imported, by withholding development funds, because they voted for the opposition, is anotlfer example of the same kind of abuse. Stricter supervisory role of the Election Commission, not only in monitoring how funds are used, but also overseeing how government machinery is used to influence elections should be ensured.
As for the election, we wish the people of Mirpur a peaceful and coercion-free one. It is our hope that both the BNP and the AL. and other smaller parties, will prove our worst fears to be false, and allow the people of Mirpur to exercise their franchise most judiciously. And. as for the candidates, may the better one win.