The Hindu : Elections peaceful in Jammu

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 25, 2002

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Elections peaceful in Jammu

By Our Staff Reporter

Voters outside a booth at Budgam in Srinagar during the second phase of the Assembly election on Tuesday. — Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

Suchetgarh/Jammu Sept. 24. Amid high security and fear, the polling for 13 Assembly segments of Jammu district took place today peacefully. As many as 58 per cent voted till 4 p.m., and the figure will go up as the border segments witnessed long queues within polling complexes waiting to vote as the deadline approached.

While the residents along the Indo-Pak international border risked their lives to exercise their democratic right in large numbers, those in the urban areas did not show much enthusiasm.

Most part of the 198-km long international border lies along the 13 Assembly segments. These areas have witnessed a large-scale migration in the last 10 months. A total of 99 hypersensitive and 138 sensitive polling booths were located at a stone's throw distance from the border.

At the various polling stations, young people were seen carrying elderly people on their back. Diplomats from the British High Commission and the American Embassy met the voters and enquired about the elections.

Even the people who had migrated due to the Indo-Pak border tension travelled long distances to their native places to vote in the respective polling stations. In the pockets such as the Gulabgarh polling station in the Suchergarh Assembly segment which is 100 metres from the Indo-Pak border and a frequent target of shelling from the Pakistan side, people had to stand in queues for more than two hours. At the Khurd polling station in the same segment, some of the people who had migrated crawled at a few places along the zero line to reach the polling station. Among the enthusiastic voters who cast their vote was Vidya Devi, aged 95, who had preferred to stay back in her village amid high tension.

At the Scheduled Caste-dominated border village of Abudlliah which had witnessed heavy shelling, the voters were enthusiastic. The sarpanch of the village, Ojhar Singh, says, "We are used to bullets. We are always enthusiastic about elections. We vote with the hope that the person we elect would solve our problems."

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