FOR THE candidates of Bhopal (North) constituency, the area worst affected by the gas leak in 1984, relief for the victims seems to be a non-issue. Congress candidate Rasool Ahmad Siddique smugly declares voters are "satisfied with the relief they are getting" and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Ramesh Sharma says, "These elections are about national issues."

Though the victims still burst into anger at the relief and compensation system and the state of public health services, prominent activists such as Abdul Jabbar, convenor of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathana (BGPMUS), feel the issue did not feature in the elections because "no political party was interested in making the fate of the victims its foremost agenda."

Promises by politicians such as BJP's Babulal Gaur to make all of Bhopal a compensation-eligible area were met only by contempt, as Gaur himself was gas relief minister in the BJP government. The only politician respected by the gas victims was the Janata Dal's Arif Akeel, who as an independent MLA, had campaigned for overhauling the relief approach.

Jabbar, valued by all political parties for the vote-bank of 17,000 BGPMUS members, says, "I think it was a mistake not to have been in the fray. Who will now ensure that the assembly does not ignore the case of the gas hit?" Next time, he says, he will ensure BGPMUS joins the fight.