National

Frittering Away The Goodwill

After winning accolades for fair polling in the first phase, the state administration bungles. Voters allege coercion by troops.

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Frittering Away The Goodwill
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The first phase of polling for assemblyelections in Kupwara and Baramulla districts went without any overt signs ofcoercion, but on the evidence of the second andparticularly the third round ofpolling, the Indian Government seems to have squandered its chances of claimingfairplay.

On September 21, during polling to 15 seats in Srinagar andBadgam, there was scattered violence—including an explosion at chiefminister-in-waiting Farooq Abdullah's constituency Gainderbal—and large-scalecomplaints of rigging. At least three persons were killed and over 80 injured atvarious places. The turnout in Srinagar city was poor as anti-polldemonstrators, including Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yaseen Malik,took to the streets.

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By the end of the day, Chief Secretary Ashok Kumar wasrattling off optimistic figures. Though he admitted to journalists that pollingin Srinagar was low, he said he was satisfied with the turnout in Badgamdistrict. He said for the 10 assembly con-stituencies of Srinagar, nearly 29 percent votes were polled; for the five Badgam constituencies, the turnout touched60 per cent. In Srinagar, Kangan constituency had 60 per cent polling whileZadibal experienced the lowest—18 per cent. The official turnout on September21 was listed at 48 per cent for the entire Valley.

Defending the low turnout in Srinagar, Farooq toldjournalists that people kept away because they still feared the gun. In fact, hesaid the deployment of security forces in the city was inadequate: "It isnot too much, it is too little, we will be needing more forces after theelections as the proxy war has not ended".

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The government optimism apart, there were reports ofwidespread discrepancies. At one polling station in Rajouri Kadal, voting wasstarted at 6.15 am, 45 minutes before time. People outside the polling boothalleged they were brought from a local mosque soon after offering prayers andasked to vote. In another locality, BSF personnel knocked on doors, exhortingthe people to vote. A BSF officer was candid enough to admit to the media thathis jawans were "requesting" the local peopleto take part in theelections.

Earlier, during the second phase, it was the same story. Inthe sensitive Anantnag and Pulwama districts, the official turnout was a record62 per cent—an exaggerated figure even by peacetime standards. During the 1977and 1987 elections when the people voted of their free will, the percentage didnot touch such a high.

The turnout is all the more incredible because militants hadcalled a strike on polling day and virtually all the towns in these districtswere deserted. Only, the soldiers kept vigilance—and the dogs. In Anantnagtown, which the authorities claim has been freed from "militantclutches", just three votes were polled in the first two hours. Hilai Hyder,chief commander of the powerful pro-India militant group, J&K Ikhwan,acknowledged that polling would be low in Anantnag because the people had lostinterest in elections.

Official figures on the turnout, issued onthe hour, are interesting. At 12noon, the figure in Anantnag was 11 per cent, which rose to 17 per cent at 1 pmand to 25 per cent an hour later. However, the poll percentage crossed 37 percent at 5 pm with the chief secretary saying it could touch 50 per cent, afterall details had come in.

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The official spokesman said in the firsttwo-and-a-half-hours, the turnout was 60 per cent in a booth at Pampore assemblysegment. "Some 180 voters cast their votes at polling station No 35 up to 9.30 am," he claimed. The natural question whicharose was: "Even if voting started at 7 am, is it possible for 180 peopleto vote in just 150 minutes with one vote taking less than a minute?" 

At several polling stations in Pahalgam, Bijbehara, Tral andKulgam, very few had cast their votes by noon. In some booths in Bijbehara, thenumber had not reached the two-digit mark. But by evening, the stateadministration was quoting a different—and much higher—number.

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Contrary to claims by Army authorities that it would"keep aloof" from the polling, soldiers roamed around varioustowns andvillages, "persuading" the people to queue up outside the pollingbooths. In Sophian town, an Army battalion even used the microphone to seekvotes. As a team of reporters reached there, the officer—a Captain—orderedhis jawans to beat a retreat saying, "jaldi bhago presswaley agaye (Scoot,the Press is here)". It was the same at Queel village of Pulwamaconstituency, where soldiers, who were urging villagers to go to the booths,dispersed as soon as the media posse reached the spot.

Once the journos departed, the soldiers took over again:presswa-leychalay gaye, ab tum vote dalnay chalo"(The Press has gone, now you can vote)". The state administration flewthree dozen "medi-apersons", including television crews, in Armychoppers for whistlestop visits to four assembly constituencies. At the firststop in Awantipore, the media was taken in armoured vehicles to a governmentbuilding in Malla-npura. A motley group of people had gathered in the make-shifttent to stamp on ballot papers while another lot queued up outside. On seeingthe Betacam cameras and the tripods, a group of 20 people broke away and beganshouting pro-azadi slogans, causing a major commotion. "They forced us outof the house. They threatened to hurt us if they did not find the indelibleink," they screamed. Senior security personnel had to intervene to bringthe crowd under control.

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In picturesque Pahalgam, security personnel in large numberswere waiting to ferry the reporters in Gypsies. Here, they were not shown anypolling. Instead, they were asked by the 163rd battalion of the BSF, which hadput up a huge "shamiana", to join them in their snack break of hot pakodas,biscuits, cashew-nuts and tea. The tehsildar’s off-ice across the road was apolling booth but there were no signs of activity. A lone woman, Hajjra, whowalked in, was told her vote had been cast. According to offi-cial figures, 295of the 982 persons on the list had voted by noon. 

"The figure is better inother booths. In Malalar, 92 per cent people voted," said BSF CommandantR.S. Bhullar. But the organ-isers soon declined to take the press corps to otherbooths. "Everything is going on smoothly," the hosts told them firmly.

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