The Hindu : National : Voters defy boycott call in naxal areas

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 21, 2004

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National

Voters defy boycott call in naxal areas

By Arunkumar Bhatt

MUMBAI, APRIL 20. Barring three incidents of naxalites shooting at polling parties at three places and an attempted ambush of a police party, the voting in 24 constituencies of Maharashtra that went to the polls today was peaceful and an overall turnout of 53 per cent was recorded.

The Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer, R.K. Bhargava, told presspersons here today here that naxalites tried to ambush a police party at Ishtapur in Gadchiroli district last night but withdrew quickly when the police retaliated. The polling parties at booths in Kotami, Jhaveri and Gardewada in the same district were fired upon at noon. The police guards returned fire and nobody was hurt.

Naxalites had given a call for poll boycott and the authorities had apprehended disruption of the polling in Gadchiroli district that encompasses parts of the Chandrapur and Chimur constituencies and Bhandara.

But the voters' turnout in these areas known for the naxal violence was found to be higher than in other areas, showing that the people had ignored the boycott call.

An officer of the headquarters of the Gadchiroli Police told The Hindu on condition of anonymity that the polling in the thick of the naxalite-dominated areas could have surpassed 65 per cent.

As a matter of policy, the rebels do not attack the voters to enforce the boycott call that they have been issuing for the past several elections, he said. Gadchiroli borders the naxalite areas of Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and is marked by thick forests and undulating terrain.

Mr. Bhargava said only 35 electronic voting machines (EVMs) had to be replaced because of malfunctioning and that worked out to about two to three EVMs on an average.

The number was negligible compared to 1,500 to 2,000 EVMs used in each constituency.

While Bhandara, a naxalite-dominated constituency bordering Chhattisgarh, registered 61 per cent voting, the highest in the State, Chandrapur recorded 58 per cent and Chimur 52.

The overall turnout in Gadchiroli was around 60 per cent, much higher than the average of 53 per cent of the 24 constituencies that went to the polls today.

The lowest polling was noticed in the tribal area of Dhule, 36 per cent. The second lowest was 45 per cent in Solapur from where Ujwala Shinde, wife of the Chief Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde, is contesting. The neighbouring Pandharpur also had 45 per cent voting from where the Republican leader, Ramdas Athavale, is seeking re-election.

Maharashtra has 48 seats in the Lok Sabha. The first phase covered the entire Vidarbha, Northern Maharashtra and parts of the Marathwada region. The polling for the remaining 24 seats is scheduled for April 26.

These constituencies are in Western Maharashtra, Marathwada and the coastal region of Konkan, besides Mumbai.

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