03 May, 2004; NOW! 1 “Rhenock has been ditched NO SMOKING, TheThe Straight-Straight- twice by its leaders, it is shootingshooting time to trust SDF now” ANYWHERE! IronIron WallWall DETAILS ON pg 4 DETAILS ON pg 3 passespasses awayaway SBICAR Bharat Sanchar LOAN Monday, 03 May, 2004 Vol. 3 No. 33 Gangtok Rs. 3 Nigam Ltd. the convenient option most NOTICE Sanction & Disbursement in 1 day It is notified that Telephone Lowest interest rate at 9% Adalat will be held on 28/05/ No prepayment charges 04 at 11 A.M. in the cham- No processing charge ber of General Manager, Loan up to 90% Telecom, Gtk. The Sub- Free accidental death scribers are requested to insurance of the kindly file their complaints borrower regarding (1) excess billing Repayment up to 84 (2) Service (3) Non-provi- months sion of New Telephone due to various reasons etc. by contact PT Bhutia 98320 35786 20/05/04 addressed to the or Chettri 94340 12824 AO (TR) O/o the GMT/GTK THE CEC’s in town and both sides claim “Good Response” THE CEC, HE RESPONDS BEST TO VOTERS voters who have impressed him most. prised when everyone present took a NOW REPORT Visiting the State’s highest poll- out a photo voters card. He was GANGTOK, 02 May: The Chief ing booth at Gnathang [12,800 ft.], equally impressed with the familiar- Election Commissioner, KS the EC interacted freely with the ity the locals had developed with the Krishnamurthy, is in Sikkim on a members of the local panchayat and electronic voting machine, which he three day visit and although he has lay people who had come to greet reiterated during his Gnathang stopo- interacted with the politicians and him today. ver, was extremely “voter-friendly.” their delegations, it is the Sikkimese While checking with the local Sikkim continued to impress the The CEC, KS Krishnamurthy [centre], voters whether they had been issued EC as he drove through the remote flanked by the Sikkim CEO, TT Dorji photo identity cards, Mr. barrenness of East Sikkim. Already to his right and the Chief Secretary, Krishnamurthy was pleasantly sur- turn to pg 7 a NOW pic SW Tenzing, to his left at a special cultural show hosted in his honour at Community Hall, Gangtok, on 02 May. DETAILS OF PARTY WOES ON pg 5 GNLF TO SUPPORT CONG [I] HONGHONG KONGKONG BAZAAR IN DARJEELING POLLS Any Item Rs. 90 to Rs. 150 that he himself could not believe GNLF is supporting the PDF- FIRST a NOW REPORT his ears when first informed of this backed Congress candidate what Gift Items, Crockery & Other TIME IN DARJEELING, 02 May: The decision of the GNLF. does the PDF have to say?” SIKKIM Darjeeling hills will finally regain the Incidentally, the PDF, of which A public announcement of the Attractive Goods! taste of going to the polls in a few days the Congress is a constituent mem- GNLF’s decision is expected at a time after being forced to abstain for ber, has long been harping of a tacit public meeting of the party sched- HOTEL BAYUL, MG MARG, GANGTOK the past two terms. In an unprec- understanding between the GNLF uled for 04 May. edented move GNLF central commit- and the CPM ever since the meet- tee today announced its support for ing between the West Bengal chief the Cong [I] candidate in the forth- minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya coming Parliamentary elections. and Mr. Ghising in March this year. “The move has been adopted to They had also accused the GNLF preserve the GNLF’s harmonious of boycotting past polls to the ad- relation with the Congress as in the vantage of the CPM. past,” explained Subhas Ghising, Commenting on the GNLF de- the party supremo. cision, Madan Tamang, chairman, He said that it was a move PDF dubbed it as a victory for the adopted keeping in mind the PDF and said: “Ghising has finally present scenario of the country and bowed down before the PDF and also their political stand of a sepa- has caught himself in the PDF rate Gorkha state. wave.” He added that Ghising be- “I appeal to all the branch commit- ing a “crafty man,” needed to be tees, units and supporters of the GNLF carefully watched. to vote for the Congress,” he said. Meanwhile, Ashok This bolt from the blue seems Bhattacharjee, CPM leader said to have upset all previous equations “All along the PDF has been com- and all political camps seem to have plaining of a tacit understanding been overcome by shock. between the CPM and GNLF Dawa Norbula, the Cong [I] whereas I had openly asked for the candidate for Darjeeling revealed GNLF’s support. Now that the CMYK 2; NOW!; 03 May, 2004 ED-SPACE The Straight-shooting Iron NOWFIRST WITH THE NEWS! Wall passes away Can We Have The Truth, Please Sikkim is on the verge of going to poll. Less than six days are left for OBITUARY Nari Tsering Bhutia, who campaigning and this time next week, voters in Sikkim will be exer- NARI TSERING BHUTIA passed away on 29 April cising their franchise. Attempts are afoot to confuse the electorate 1959-2004 was not only a skilled as much as possible. As if the confusion of Mr. Bhandari in Con- ari Tshering Bhutia, Chief footballer and coach, but gress [I] and an SSP in the fray was not enough, we now have a NFootball Coach passed away also an avid archer slew of allegations and counter-allegations to confound the voters. at Gangtok on 29 April after suf- If matters are allowed to proceed in the present fashion, then by the fering from a prolonged illness. He time the State goes to poll, manifestos and ideologies will no longer was 47 years old. be deciding the votes as political rhetoric of allegations start influ- Born in 1959, Nari was an in- encing the voters. The Chief Election Commissioner is in the State spiration to a lot of footballers. He and the best person to lay many of the ongoing controversies at rest. He should, if elections are to be restored their identity as a began his football career in 1975 battle of ideologies and not muscle. as a team member of the Sikkim At the mouth of the elections, the Opposition has raised some very Armed Police. Part of the defence serious allegations against the ruling party. These range from sug- line-up, he was often called the gestions that it abducted a candidate to stop him from filing nomina- “Iron Wall”. He represented Sikkim tions to accusations that the Returning Officers colluded with the pow- in many national level games. ers-that-be to reject nominations papers. While the RO’s have gone Apart from being a popular foot- hoarse trying to explain their side of the story and the SDF continu- ball coach in the state, he was ously denying that it had no hand in either episode, a true reading of associated with many other the events that unfolded over the past weeks can come only from the organizations. He was the Election Commissioner’s office. His office is after all the highest au- thority on the conduction of elections in the world’s largest democ- General Secretary, racy. As the allegations are serious, so are the violations of the model Sikkim Archery Asso- code of conduct that the Congress is accused of having perpetrated. ciation and an Executive Even though the code is not statutory and binding, it is a guideline for Member of Syari Govern- public behaviour of people wishing to be public representatives. The ment Employees Association. people deserve to know what happens when this Code is broken. But a rare illness discovered in No one expects, or even wants the Election Commission to punish March 2003 brought everything to the guilty. All that is required is a clear expression of its stand on the an end. He was detected of having various issues at stake. The EC should tell the Sikkim voters whether a tumour in his heart. Angio- vened an emergency meeting to that has been created with his un- the RO [South] was right or wrong in rejecting the nomination pa- Circoma is the rarest of diseases, condole the sad and untimely de- timely death,” he said. pers, which the Cong [I] claims had minor errors and the RO main- mise of the football coach. The BK Roka, General Secretary, tains were gross. The Kabi-Tingda episode is obviously beyond the with less than 60 cases detected in EC’s jurisdiction and falls in criminal courts if foul play is to be estab- the world so far. meeting observed two minute’s of SFA said that Nari was an inspira- lished, but the South rejections, which even led to the burning of the Undergoing treatment at the Tata silence in the fond memory of the tion to a lot of footballers. Menla CM’s effigy at Jorethang by Cong [I] is something the EC can com- Memorial Cancer Hospital, Mumbai, departed soul. Ethenpa, Secretary, SFA said “He ment on and should. Similarly, the model code of conduct is as much Nari Tshering Bhutia succumbed to In the meeting, Tempo Bhutia, was a very good sportsperson who for the parties as out of respect for the electorate and their sensibili- his illness on April 29. He leaves be- President, SFA remembered Nari used to take interest in all sports. ties. They deserve to know whether use of offensive language, un- hind his wife and two children.