Two injured in Udhampur blast during
polling
Bhadarwah:
At least two persons were injured when a bomb blast
took place near a polling booth in Bhadarwah village in
Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency here on Monday. The blast
took place as soon as voting began for the last two Lok
Sabha constituencies - Udhampur and Ladakh. Security forces
said that the attack was a handiwork of extremists aimed
at disturbing the poll process in the state. The injured
were admitted to the district hospital in Doda. "I don't
know where did it come from. There was a blast but I don't
know how did it happen," Iqbal, an injured person said.
Meanwhile, voting continued peacefully in other parts of
the militancy-infested Doda region. "Our soldiers are taking
care of the dignity of people and do not harass them. The
polling is going on peacefully and we carry out inspection
of people peacefully," B.S. Rathore, commandant of a paramilitary
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) battalion, said. At
least 28,200 CRPF personnel and 5600 personnel of the Border
Security Force (BSF) were on guard to ensure peaceful elections.
50 to 55 per cent turnout in final round
(Go
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New
Delhi: Curtains came down on elections 2004 on Monday
in the final round of polling in 182 Lok Sabha constituencies
spread across 16 states and union territories. An estimated
50 to 55 percent of the 252 million voters exercised their
franchise in the final leg of polling. The highest turnout
was registered in the union territory of Lakshadweep (72
percent), EC spokesman A N Jha told reporters. Among the
12 states, West Bengal registered the highest turnout of
65 to 70 percent.
The
lowest voting among the states was in Madhya Pradesh, where
only 42 to 45 percent of the electorate voted, and Jammu
and Kashmir with 44 percent voter turnout. West Bengal was
followed by Haryana (60-65 percent turnout), Himachal Pradesh
(60 percent), Punjab (55 to 60 percent), Tamil Nadu (55
to 60 percent), Uttaranchal (55 to 60 percent), Kerala (55-58
percent) and Uttar Pradesh (50 percent). Delhi recorded
a moderate turnout of 50 percent while Silchar constituency
in Assam registered 60 percent turnout. Counting of votes
for all the 543 Lok Sabha seats for which elections began
on April 20 would be taken up on Thursday and the results
are expected the same day. Exit polls have predicted a hung
House.
Simultaneously
assembly elections were held in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,
Orissa and Sikkim. However, in view of the need to immediately
constitute the new Andhra Pradesh Assembly, which has 294
members, the counting of votes in the state will be taken
up on Tuesday. The polling in all the four phases has been
by and large peaceful. Poll related violence claimed 35
lives mainly in Bihar, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir,
where despite militant threat voter turnout was moderate.
Analysts say Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's ruling
coalition is likely to emerge as the main bloc in parliament
but falling short of an absolute majority. That means Vajpayee
may have to scramble for support from small, populist parties
to expand his already large coalition, threatening the reforms
India needs to emerge as a major global economic force.
"We want a great government like what we had in the past.
The present government had increased the prices of all essential
commodities," said Abdur Rehman, a voter in New Delhi. Telvision
exit polls conducted after the final round of polling suggested
the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies would struggle
to get a clear majority in parliament. Aaj Tak television
predicted Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's BJP and
its allies would win 248 seats in the 545- seat lower house.
Sahara television gave them 264 to 279 seats, while Star
News gave them 263 to 275 seats. The BJP has very little
presence in some of the large states which voted on Monday
and will rely heavily on regional allies. In Rampur, where
filmstar Jaya Prada is in a close contest with sitting lawmaker
Noor Bano, people came out in huge numbers to vote. "Its
not good to scheme and plot against the other person. After
the elections, it will be clear who will stay in Rampur
and who will go to London," said Jaya Prada.
In strife-torn Kashmir, where two constituencies-Udhampur
and Ladakh went to vote, a large tournout was seen despite
a grenade attack on Sunday. The Panthers Party leader Bhim
Singh said the attacks were meant to scare voters. Bombay's
main share index closed around two percent lower on Monday
and has fallen more than six percent since exit polls two
weeks ago first suggested a possible hung parliament. The
rupee and bond market were also weaker. The Congress party
has apparently done far better than anyone expected, even
though its leader Sonia Gandhi trails Vajpayee in the popularity
stakes. Polls closed at 5 p.m. Counting of votes from all
five rounds will be on Thursday with results expected later
the same day.
Violence mars polling in Amritsar (Go
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Amritsar:
Violence marred polling in Amritsar on Monday as rival
political activists clashed outside a polling booth hours
after a an Akali Dal leader was shot dead in a nearby village.
The violence erupted after supporters of BJP candidate former
cricketer Navtoj Sidhu accused the opposition of rigging
the voting leading to a massive verbal and physical duels
between the rival factions. Akali Dal leader Jagpal Singh
Sohali was shot dead near Ludhiana district by car-borne
gunmen when he was on his way to cast his vote. Sidhu, who
makes his political debut with the national elections, is
pitted against octogenarian politician Raghunandan Lal Bhatia
of the Congress, who is seeking his seventh win from the
region. Reacting to the violence, Sidhu said these were
minor incidents. "We are doing all we can. Things are fine.
These are small incidents...people like us go on unfazed,"
he said. In the politically-sensitive Bhiwani region of
Haryana, two people were injured after supporters of the
ruling Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) clashed with the opposition
Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) activists, trading charges of
booth capturing. The high-profile constituency witnessed
a tough fight between Heavyweights, as chief minister Om
Prakash Chautala's son Ajay is pitted against sons of two
former chief ministers.Telvision exit polls conducted after
the final round of polling suggested the ruling Bharatiya
Janata Party and its allies would struggle to get a clear
majority in parliament.
Weary Kashmiris shrug off rebel threats
and vote (Go
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Leh:
For years, there was only one word in the election vocabulary
of Kashmiris living close to Muslim rebel strongholds in
the Himalayan mountains boycott. But on Monday hundreds
of war-weary people in the troubled region shrugged aside
militant threats and voted in the last phase of a marathon
election in the world's largest democracy. Two constituencies
in Jammu and Kashmir-Udhampur and Ladakh-are among 182 seats
which voted in the last round of five- stage election. Voters,
especially women, queued at polling stations in the remote
alpine desert of Ladakh in the morning. "We voted because
we want the country to progress," Zeenat, a woman voter
in Kargil sector said. Some others were fascinated by the
electronic voting machines, which have been used in the
voting process for the first time in the region. "I liked
voting for the first time through electronic voting machine.
We want that our candidate who we are voting for should
work for the development of Ladakh," Zahira, another woman
voter said. Ladakh, part of the Himlayan region of Jammu
and Kashmir and with the predominantly Buddhist population
has India's highest polling station at 17,000 feet.
Despite
rebel threats to kill voters and candidates participating
in the polls, voters lined up at heavily guarded polling
booths in Batote in Udhampur, nestled among the lush green
coniferous forests of the Pir Panjal mountains. "Earlier,
we were unable to vote because of shelling, but now maximum
number of people are coming to vote and we hope our candidate
will win," Younis, another voter said. The turnout in Udhampur,
where about 60 percent of the people are Hindu, and the
majority Buddhist enclave of Ladakh in the north was much
higher than in the two Muslim-dominated constituencies that
voted in earlier rounds. More than 25 percent turned up
to vote in Udhampur in the first six hours of polling on
Monday while in Ladakh the number was even higher at about
30 percent. Officials say they expect the turnout in Udhampur
to cross 40 percent by the end of the day compared with
about 30 percent at the last election in 1999.
Militants
and political separatists called for a boycott of the poll
in Kashmir, saying elections cannot solve the decades-old
conflict over the region that has led to two wars between
mostly Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. About 1.3 million
people were eligible to vote in Udhampur while mountainous
Ladakh had only 182,677 voters. The federal government sees
the election as another step towards affirming the legitimacy
of its rule in the Muslim- majority region, where tens of
thousands of people have been killed in 15 years of rebellion.
The level of violence in Kashmir has fallen since India
and Pakistan began a peace process last year but there have
been attacks in the run-up to the polls that began on April
20.(ANI)
EC orders Chapra repoll on May 31 (Go
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New
Delhi: The Election Commission has countermanded polls
in Chapra and has ordered for re-polling on May 31. Union
Minister Raijv Pratap Rudy, who is contesting against Laloo
Prasad Yadav from Chapra, had approached the Election Commission
accusing the RJD chief of rigging the polls. Rudy had asked
for a re-poll in the constituency. A BJP delegation met
Deputy Election Commissioner Noor Mohammad and complained
that there was large-scale violence including killings and
destruction of EVMs by RJD workers in the constituency on
April 26th, the day of polling. The party also alleged misuse
of official machinery and large-scale electoral malpractices.
The BJP's allegations were backed by the Bahujan Samaj Party
Rudy
had said that though the Commission termed 800 polling stations
as "sensitive", proper security was deployed only in 200
booths and the remaining booths were left unprotected. He
said the delegation also submitted to the Commission evidence
in the form of photos and video clippings of the violence.
RJD strongly opposed BJP's demand for countermanding elections
to the prestigious Chapra Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar.
The party alleged that the Centre and BJP were exerting
pressure on the Election Commission to order re-poll in
the entire constituency. The RJD said that it would not
only set a bad precedent, but also raise doubts over the
credibility of a constitutional body if the EC countermanded
the elections under pressure. The slanging match between
the BJP and RJD over the elections in Chapra intensified
after the Election Commission ordered an inquiry into allegations
that Laloo's men had rigged the polls. The RJD retaliated
by filing an FIR against Rudy, accusing him of instigating
violence in Chapra on polling day.
