The Hindu : Karnataka News : Nearly 70 p.c. polling in State

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Nearly 70 p.c. polling in State

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MAY 10. With the skies remaining generally clear and political parties eschewing strong-arm tactics, close to 70 per cent votes were cast in the Lok Sabha election in the State today.

Absolute numbers were not available even late in the evening, but tentative figures from the 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State seemed to indicate an average polling of 70 per cent across Kerala. The State had registered 70.19 per cent polling in the last Lok Sabha election in 1999. In the Wadakkancherry Assembly byelection, featuring the State Electricity Minister, K. Muraleedharan, 72 per cent votes were polled.

The following were the tentative figures available till 9 p.m. with the 1999 figures in brackets: Kasaragod: 69 (77.64), Kannur: 74 (79.05), Vadakara: 57.7 (74.57), Kozhikode: 71 (73.53), Manjeri: 54 (67.05), Ponnani: 58 (60.63), Palakkad: 66 (72.05), Ottappalam: 69 (71.11), Thrissur: 65 (68.80), Mukundapuram: 66 (73.12), Ernakulam: 51.94 (65.79), Muvattupuzha: 61 (67.86), Kottayam: 55 (72.05), Idukki: 65 (69.46), Alappuzha: 64.5 (76.73), Mavelikara: 67 (71.21), Adoor: 62.9 (69.80), Kollam: 55 (68.06), Chirayinkeezhu: 60 (63.03) and Thiruvananthapuram: 63 (63.18). Past experience shows that the final figures might be higher by at least 5 per cent in the constituencies from where the lower tentative estimates have been reported. Though by and large peaceful, the polling was marked by complaints that scores of people in different parts of the State could not cast their votes despite holding voter identity cards because their names did not figure in the electoral rolls. There was also disruption in polling in some places as the electronic voting machines developed snags. Election Department officials put the number of EVMs that developed problems at 90 and said these were replaced instantly.

According to the State police, only 32 minor incidents of poll-related violence were reported from across the State. These were related mostly to disputes over registering of votes in the EVMs, identity of voters and canvassing of votes within the restricted area. The police filed cases for simple assault and wrongful detention in connection with most of these incidents. The highest numbers of such incidents were reported from Kasaragod (9), Kannur (7), Kollam (4) and Malappuram (2).

Two violent incidents of serious nature were reported in connection with the election — the stabbing of a CPI(M) activist, Sasikumar, in Kollam district by a dissident CPI(M) activist and a clash between the UDF and the LDF activists at Kodakkad in Kasaragod. Badaruddin, who stabbed the CPI(M) activist, was arrested by the police.

Eighteen persons, including three women, were injured in the clash that followed.

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