Chamaria, India – it was the electoral season of the village council in the northeast state of Assam in India, and nearly 60,000 people competed for more than 21,000 seats.
In a country where political ideology often depends on religion, voters in at least one Anchalik Panchayat race (block level), in the district of Kamrup, have shown that when they have voted, there is much more at stake. The population of Assam is around 34% Muslim, although, according to some, it is up to 40% and increases quickly. The horses were Muslims: Monjila Ahmed, 29, on the Bharatiya Janata Party ticket; and Hasina Ahmed, 30, on the Party of the Indian National Congress ticket. The two candidates represented parties which have solid leadership in the state and in the country.
But in a surprising turning point, Kamela Parbin, 28, an independent and also Muslim candidate, was ahead of the race on Monday – a result which, according to the voters, shows the tension between religious identity, the physical needs of people and the objectives of the main political parties of India.
The Alliance of Monjila Ahmed with the BJP, the ruling party of India, was remarkable because of the inclination of the party towards the right -wing Hindu politics. Although it was among the favored candidates, some voters finally say that they could not risk having a member of the BJP in power in their constituency in Muslim majority. Hasina Ahmed, who aligned himself with the National Party of the Indian Congress, joined the idea that her party was the only one for Muslims.
“The BJP just wants to talk about Hindu-Muslim (relations)”, explains Afzal Rehman, a resident in the Palashipara region of the constituency from which the three candidates challenged for a seat.
It is a dilemma, he says, with regard to the way voters can align themselves with the candidates. In addition, representatives of the Congress Party did not do much for development, he adds.
Angana Chakrabarti from the Global Press Journal has photographed the last weeks of the campaign season.
Photo gallery
Angana Chakrabarti, GPJ India
Monjila Ahmed, on the far right, walks with his candidate colleagues and Anjan Goswami, president of the South Kamrup District Unit of the BJP, during a procession at the party office for a public meeting in Rangapani Bazar, Kamrup District, in India, April 24. In the 2018 Panchayat elections, the Bhakhuradia Ranges Wares dominated on a state scale. This year, the BJP presented candidates like Ahmed in the Muslim majority area in order to gain ground in the congress.
Angana Chakrabarti, GPJ India
Monjila Ahmed, on the right, takes a selfie with her sister-in-law, Farida Ahmed, during the second phase of the Panchayat elections in Assam on May 7.
Angana Chakrabarti, GPJ India
The candidates’ campaign posters are hung at the Bhakhuradia Rangeswari Gaon Panchayat on April 27.
Angana Chakrabarti, GPJ India
The supporters of the Congress celebrate before a public meeting in the village of Rangeswari, which is part of the Bhakhuradia Rangeswari Gaon Panchayat, in the Kamrup district, India, May 2.
Angana Chakrabarti, GPJ India
Monjila Ahmed, 29, rolls with her brother, Rafiqul Islam, during a bicycle rally before the elections in the Kamrup district, India, April 24. Ahmed says it was Islam, a longtime member of the Bharatiya Janata party, who inspired him to enter politics. “We do not have appropriate roads here … Some women have not received funds from the Orunodoi program, and many people still have no houses. I plan to work on these questions, ”explains Ahmed. (The Orunodoi regime is a direct cash transfer plan for women, promised by the Assam government.)
Angana Chakrabarti, GPJ India
Hasina Ahmed, the candidate of the Indian National Congress for the Bhakhuradia Rangeswari Gaon Panchayat, made door-to-door in the district of Kamrup, India, May 2. During the visits, her husband, who accompanied her, told residents: “Only Congress is for Muslims.”
Angana Chakrabarti, GPJ India
Hasina Ahmed visits residents during her campaign in the Kamrup district in India on May 2. Residents of the Palashipara region, in the Bhakhuradia Rangeswari, say that the voting for the congress would have been an easy choice – except for bad road conditions. They said that the previous congress representative had not done much to improve infrastructure.
Angana Chakrabarti, GPJ India
Voters meet for a meeting of the congress before the Panchayat elections in the village of Bhakhuradia Rangeswari on May 2. The story of Assam of anti-foreign movements led to measures such as the order of foreigners (courts) of 1964, both aimed at identifying the “infiltrative”. The CNRC has excluded more than 1.9 million people, which raises concerns about statelessness. During the public meeting, Nandita Das, member of the Congress of the Legislative Assembly, asked how many people had been affected – several raised their hands. “It was the Congress that then helped you,” she said.
Angana Chakrabarti, GPJ India
People observe the process of counting votes for the Assam Panchayat elections in an accounting center in the Kamrup district, India, May 11.
Angana Chakrabarti, GPJ India
Hasina Ahmed, candidate for the National Congress for the Anchalik Panchayat of the Bhakhuradia Rangeswari Gaon Panchayat, waits inside the Dakshin Kamrup Girls College counting center in Mirza, Kamrup District, India, because the votes for the Panchayat elections were recorded for the match of May.
Angana Chakrabarti, GPJ India
The independent candidate Kamela Parbin is located inside the Dakshin Kamrup Girls’ Country Counting Center of Mirza, Kamrup District, India, while the votes of the Panchayat elections are counted on May 11. Parbin led the race after Monday, which potentially beat the BJP of Monjila Ahmed and the Congress. Hasina Ahmed. “We have put a lot in these elections. We went to each canvas house to vote, ”she says.