Fourteen years ago Meham entered our political vocabulary, becoming a synonym for booth capturing and rigging. The incident had all the ingredients of a gory potboiler: violence, repoll, more violence and then a planned murder. After Devi Lal became deputy prime minister, his son Om Prakash Chautala succeeded him as Haryana’s chief minister and was contesting the assembly by election from Meham in 1990. This brought him into conflict with Anand Singh Dangi, an associate turned bitter rival. Dangi was contesting the elections with the backing of the Meham panchayat. However, after the poll on February 27, 1990, the election commission ordered repolls in eight booths following complaints of rigging and booth capturing. The repoll the following day was a bloody affair. Nine people including a constable were killed at Bainsi village. The Election Commission decided to countermand the poll and gave a new date for May 1990. This time Amir Singh, a sugar mill worker and later the president of Rohtak Market Committee, entered the fray as an independent candidate backed by Chautala, ostensibly to cut Dangi’s votes. He was found murdered in village Mundhal on May 17, 1990, the day Chautala was scheduled to address an election rally in the village. The EC countermanded the election yet again. The case was later handed to the CBI which filed a closure report with its court in Ambala a few months ago. ‘‘Since the investigation couldn’t move forward and the agency could not find anybody guilty, the case had to be closed,’’ says CBI spokesman G Mohanty. Dangi, who says he was found innocent by a CBI inquiry, has filed for a review in the CBI court in Ambala. Meanwhile, Amir Singh’s family in village Madina is still waiting for justice. ‘‘I hope the truth comes out some day,’’ says his widow, Vimla Devi. CASE FILE Free but fair?• The EC called repolls twice in Meham in 1990 following violence and booth capturing• No one has been found guilty of killing Amir Singh, an independent candidate though Chautala’s rival Anand Singh Dangi was initially accused• After 1996, the INLD has retained the Meham seat ‘‘All we know is that on May 16, Amir Singh was last seen with Ajay Chautala in Canal Rest House at Rohtak. At night, somebody called Amir Singh out and took him somewhere. The next morning his body was found in Mundhal, where Om Prakash Chautala had to address a rally,’’ says Chander. ‘‘But that doesn’t mean that we believe that Chautala or his men killed my brother. He was murdered as part of a larger political conspiracy. But now everybody seems to have forgotten about us.’’ Meanwhile, Dangi went on to win the Meham seat in 1991. After 1996, however, it’s always gone to Chautala’s INLD.
