Wednesday, Sep 25, 2002
Wednesday, Sep 25, 2002 |
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By Anjali Mody and Shujaat Bukhari
Polling officials waiting for voters at the Babshah polling station in Lalchowk in Srinagar on Tuesday. — Photo: Nissar Ahmad
According to the Chief Electoral Officer, Pramod Jain, the elections were "by and large violence free.'' He told presspersons here that in the Valley, the highest turnout of 59 per cent was recorded in Charar-e-Sharief, and the lowest "less-than-one-per cent'' in Habbakadal. Srinagar's other urban constituencies were not very different from Habbakadal. The city wore a deserted look and a complete "hartal" was observed in support of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference's boycott call. At a funeral procession outside polling station 14 in Zadibal at 10 O'clock this morning, mourners broke away to tell journalists "this is a funeral... these people are not going to vote.'' In Kamangarpura of the downtown area, not a single vote had been cast till 4 p.m. In Soura, booth after booth recorded zero vote. In Alamgiri bazaar, voters, primarily of the Shia community, turned out to vote "according to our leaders' wishes'' but there was less than five per cent turnout. In some booths, an ``attendant'' was available to assist the people in voting. Voting in the crucial Ganderbal constituency from which the National Conference president and Union Minister of State for External Affairs, Omar Abdullah, is contesting, was varied, with less than 10 per cent turnout in some booths in Dodarhama and upwards of 50 per cent in Lar. In Lar, police sources reported attempts by National Conference activists to storm two polling booths. But, by and large, voting was incident-free. At many places, National Conference leaders faced angry mobs, who alleged that they had come to rig the polls. In Kangan, the turnout was brisk in the booths between Sonmarg and Kangan town. By one O'clock, between 30 and 40 per cent of the votes had been cast. Long queues were seen at the polling stations off the main highway. In the Margam village, 410 of the 1,233 voters had exercised their franchise by noon. In the two polling booths in Chirwan, 50 per cent of the votes had been cast by one O'clock. In Mannigam and Chinnar, south of Kangan town, polling was slower. The explanation given was that the people were "busy in their fields.'' In contrast, the mood was one of enthusiasm in the Chadoora, Charar-e-Sharief, Khansahib, Budgam and Beerwah segments. Long queues were seen outside most booths. In Chadoora, polling was moderate to brisk. The Chadoora polling booth had recorded 183 votes out of 1,571 at 9.45 a.m. Panzan was no different and out of 861 votes, 183 had been polled at 10.10 a.m. However, in the Ompra village of Budgam district, people boycotted the polls and only five votes had been polled at a booth around 11 a.m. But in Budgam town, there was a heavy rush of voters outside the booth. The Beerwah segment witnessed low to brisk polling. In Beerwah town, 276 votes out of 1,052 had been cast at 2.30 p.m. The Shia-dominated Magam was surprisingly cool to the elections. Of the 3,000 votes, only 300 had been polled. At places like Soibug, Razwen, Wahungam, Chewdara, Chewa and Rathsun, people alleged that the security forces asked them to come out to vote.
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