The Hindu : Front Page : 50-55 p.c. polling in third phase

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 06, 2004

Front Page

Front Page

50-55 p.c. polling in third phase

By J. Venkatesan

OUR VOTE, OUR RIGHT: Enthusiastic women waiting for their turn to cast their votes in Tipti, Arunachal Pradesh, on Wednesday. Despite a call by the All-Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union to boycott the elections, people in the State turned out in large numbers. — Photo: Ritu Raj Konwar

NEW DELHI, MAY 5. An estimated 50 to 55 per cent of the 107 million voters exercised their franchise in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections today in 83 constituencies spread over Bihar (12), Uttar Pradesh (30), Madhya Pradesh (12), Rajasthan (25), Arunachal Pradesh (2), Nagaland and Jammu and Kashmir (1 each).

With today's voting, polling is complete in 360 constituencies. The final phase of polling on May 10 will involve 183 seats.

The Deputy Election Commissioner, A.N. Jha, told reporters that polling was by and large peaceful except for some stray incidents. In Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the poll percentage ranged between 52 and 55, while in Bihar it was 45-50. In Uttar Pradesh, 50 per cent of the votes were polled and the highest turnout of 85 per cent was recorded in Nagaland. Jammu and Kashmir recorded the lowest voting of 16 per cent. In Arunachal Pradesh, about 50 per cent of the votes were cast.

Mr. Jha said there were 11 clear cases for repoll in Rajasthan, including one in Udaipur, four each in Jhalawar and Pali and two in Bharatpur. There were reports of poll-related malpractice in Dausa, where the late Congress leader, Rajesh Pilot's son, Sachin, is in the fray, but they were yet to be verified. In Etawah in Uttar Pradesh, there were three incidents of booth capturing, mob violence and damaging of electronic voting machines (EVMs).

In Lucknow, from where the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is contesting, there was 35 per cent turnout till 3 p.m., and the overall voting percentage was likely to be about 50 per cent. There were no major incidents in Lucknow and in Mainpuri, from where the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav, is contesting. Similar was the case in Allahabad, the constituency of the Human Resource Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, and Madhepura in Bihar, where the RJD president, Laloo Prasad Yadav, and the Union Minister, Sharad Yadav, are contesting.

Mr. Jha said that while no poll-related deaths were reported, two home guards were killed in an accident in Etah district of Uttar Pradesh. In Jammu and Kashmir, one person was killed, seven security personnel and some civilians were injured in a grenade attack in Bijbehara in Anantnag. While 3,160 of the 7,068 registered migrant voters exercised their franchise in the Jammu region, 31 out of 93 turned out in Delhi and 352 out of 878 voted in Udhampur.

In Tikamgarh in the Khajuraho constituency of Madhya Pradesh, there were two incidents of either EVMs being taken away or their control units being damaged. In another incident, 25 persons captured a polling booth and cast about 50 votes. Chhindwara, which witnessed clashes between Congress and BJP workers on Tuesday, and Balaghat did not report any incident today, Mr. Jha said.

In Bihar, there were incidents of mob violence, resulting in snatching of EVMs and destruction of the machines in some places. There were also incidents of violence outside polling booths.

No incidents were reported from Nagaland. In Arunachal Pradesh, there were reports of some problems in operating the EVMs but they were soon rectified.

Mr. Jha did not say when a decision on Chapra would be taken. "We will let you know when we take a decision," he said when asked about the demands by the BJP, the BSP and the SP for countermanding the polls in that constituency.

On the Lucknow stampede incident, he said the Commission would take a decision soon. To a question on how any decision by the Commission would be meaningful as the elections in Lucknow had been completed, Mr. Jha said, "You wait and see when a decision is taken."

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