With lok Sabha elections just round the corner, the aspiring candidates have already got down to streets, shouting slogans and indulging in mudslinging on their opponents to woo the voters. However, the situation is completely different for one candidate who is contesting from Assam’s Jorhat lok Sabha constituency as an Independent.
A surrendered militant, Raj Kumar Dowarah (49), who filed his nomination from the Jorhat constituency as an Independent candidate, goes out every morning, riding on his bicycle and meets people urging them to vote for him for a change.
Dowarah has been contesting the polls since 2004 and is a chronic loser. However, he hopes to make it this time. Dowarah is up against a former Union Minister and sitting Congress MP Bijoy Krishna Handique.
Unlike other candidates, he neither uses flashy cars nor microphones to woo his voters. Dowarah, accompanied by a few of his colleagues, rides on bicycles and meets the people as a part of his one-on-one campaigning method.
In a constituency that has over 1,300,000 voters, Dowarah, a science graduate, managed to garner 16,000 and 18,000 votes in the 2004 and 2009 lok Sabha elections respectively.
But despite the poor response in the past, Dowarah remains unfazed.
“I contest elections for a cause. The Ulfa (of which he was a member) has always favoured a society on the pattern of socialism. We can achieve this only when we have power to back our actions. If I win I can raise the issue in the Parliament,” he said. He is equally worried over the infiltration of illegal Bangladeshi migrants into Assam.
“If the Government doesn’t deal with this issue in right earnest, it will hamper the social and demographic fabrics of Assam,” he said. He believes that sealing the international border can be the first step.
In the parliamentary elections, Dowarah has always been nominated by the All Assam Surrendered Ulfa Committee of which he is the chairman.The committee digs in resources for him in the form of donations collected from well-wishers.
“In the 2009 polls, my expenditure for campaigning was Rs.33,000. Given the hike in security deposit, I feel this year it will be around Rs.50,000,” he said.Dowarah and a dozen of his supporters, mostly former Ulfa rebels, move around on bicycles to campaign. They ride through village thoroughfares carrying placards and do not shout slogans. “The constituency has over 50 per cent conscious voters. If they come out to exercise their franchise, the chance of my victory will be more than 100 per cent,” he claimed.