The Hindu : Front Page : 55 p.c. polling in Maharashtra

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 14, 2004

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55 p.c. polling in Maharashtra

By Our Mumbai Bureau

MUMBAI, OCT. 13. The fate of the 2,678 candidates for the 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra was sealed today with millions of people casting their votes and bringing to an end one of the most intensely contested elections. According to estimates, the polling percentage was around 55.

Barring a few minor incidents of violence in the naxalite-affected Gadchiroli district, polling passed off peacefully. In the Konkan region and in Pune, clashes were reported. In Mumbai, over 200 people were affected by food poisoning in the Nagpada area of central Mumbai when they consumed sweets distributed near the booths.

The Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra, U.P.S. Madan, told reporters that by 3.30 p.m., 45 per cent polling had taken place in the State and he expected that the percentage would cross 55 per cent in the remaining two hours.

The voter turnout was comparatively high in the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party stronghold of western Maharashtra where the parties are facing a serious challenge from rebel candidates. Mr. Madan said the highest voting of 67 per cent was recorded in the Sangrul constituency of Kolhapur district and 63 per cent for the Sangoli seat of Solapur district.

Middle-class apathy

In Mumbai, where each of the 34 Assembly seats is being fiercely contested, the response was not so good with only 38.18 per cent of the voters turning up. In the suburbs, the turnout was even lower at 37 per cent. As is the norm in Maharashtra's capital, polling was higher in the slum areas than in the middle-class localities. This, despite the fact that the polling day was midweek and people could not combine it with the weekend to take some days off.

Naxalite attack

Mr. Madan and the Director-General of Police, K.K. Kashyap, said that police parties were fired upon by naxalites in Binagoonda and Koindur villages in Bhamragad taluk of Gadchiroli district. One constable of the State Reserve Police was injured in the first incident and a jawan of the Central Reserve Police Force was injured in the second. These did not affect polling.

In Kodoli village in Panhala constituency of Kolhapur district, workers of two candidates clashed at a polling booth and the battery unit of the electronic voting machine (EVM) got detached. It was replaced soon and voting resumed.

Voters of two booths of Karjat in Ahmednagar district boycotted polling after a group clash. In Malton village of Pune district, dispute over the identity of two women voters resulted in the EVM being thrown down. It was later replaced. In Kandarpada polling station, an EVM was replaced after complaints.

Mr. Kashyap said 40,000 persons were taken into preventive custody till Tuesday evening to ensure peaceful polling.

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