Hillside borough Nobody can credit Mr Subhas Ghising, the supremo of the Gorkha National Liberation Front, with originality. Immediately after his visit to Calcutta, Mr Ghising announced that he and his followers would boycott the elections to be held in West Bengal on October 3. This is a ploy that Mr Ghising used during previous elections as well. In 1996, he stayed away from the polls. In 1998, he not only boycotted the polls but also called a three day bandh during the elections. The boycott this time is aimed at supporting the demand for delimitation of the Darjeeling constituency. Mr Ghising declared in Ghoom, near Darjeeling, that he wanted the Darjeeling constituency back to its original size, without Islampur and Chopra. Before the constituency was redrawn, it consisted of Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong, Phansidewa, Siliguri, Mal-Matelli and Nagarkatta. The last two segments, in the western Dooars, have sizeable Nepalese populations. Islampur and Chopra were added to the constituency in 1977 by Mr Siddhartha Shankar Ray, the then chief minister of West Bengal. Significantly, they have hardly any Nepalese voters. From Mr Ghising?s point of view, it is understandable that he should want to have the Darjeeling Lok Sabha member to be elected by a majority of Nepalese voters. It is still not clear what action Mr Ghising will take to enforce his boycott call. It remains to be seen if he will actually stop people from going and casting their ballots. He has enough clout in the hills to carry off such a threat. Mr Ghising?s boycott tactics never fail to bring a wry smile on the faces of leaders belonging to the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The latter has no presence in the hills. A successful boycott led by Mr Ghising only adversely affects the anti-left parties whose supporters are unable to come out and vote. By issuing a boycott call, the GNLF leader is guaranteeing that no anti-left candidate gets elected to the Lok Sabha from Darjeeling. By doing this, Mr Ghising might think that he is furthering his own sectarian interests but he is also, consciously or unconsciously, acting as an agent of the left. The latter, in its time, has had help coming from even stranger quarters than Mr Ghising.