The Hindu : Front Page : Over 50 p.c. polling in Bihar, Jharkhand

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Wednesday, Feb 16, 2005

Front Page

Front Page

Over 50 p.c. polling in Bihar, Jharkhand

By J. Venkatesan

Armed men block villagers from going to the polling booths, at Sarsi in Bihar on Tuesday. — AP

NEW DELHI, FEB. 15. The Election Commission said today that an estimated 50 to 52 per cent of the voters exercised their franchise in the second phase of the Assembly elections in Bihar, and in Jharkhand the turnout was around 55 to 60 per cent.

Briefing reporters, the Deputy Election Commissioner, A.N. Jha, said here that the polling was by and large peaceful and that there was no major incident in Jharkhand. Stray incidents were reported from Bihar. A Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate was detained for intimidating voters and there were reports of malfunctioning of electronic voting machines in three polling stations, he said.

In Bihar, Mr. Jha said, some violence was reported relating to police firing in Munger, Saharsa and Barauni.He said there were reports of voters boycotting the polls in three places complaining of lack of power, water and proper roads and some people complained that they did not have the voter identity card.

People wait for their turn to vote at a booth in Begusarai district in Bihar. — Photo: Ranjeet Kumar

On the question of repoll, he said the Commission would scrutinise the registers from places where more than 68 per cent polling was registered and then take a decision, Mr. Jha said. The Commission would also seek reports from the returning officers and observers regarding the large turnout in certain booths, he said.

RJD reply to notice

Mr. Jha said the RJD had replied to the Commission that it had no role in the distribution of compact discs on the post-Godhra riots shown in various places. The Commission would undertake an independent inquiry on how the discs made their way into the State when the election process was under way. A First Information Report had already been filed against unknown persons for the incident. To a question on the Commission's views to the Cabinet Secretary's reply on the hike in the interest rates of Employees Provident Fund on the eve of the elections, Mr. Jha said the Commission was looking into the reply and would soon take a decision. On appointments and transfers in Haryana, he said the State Government had been asked to send the complete facts by 4 pm tomorrow.

Three killed in Bihar

Our Patna Special

Correspondent reports:

Two persons were killed and five others were injured when police fired at anti-social elements at a booth in Saharsa. One of the deceased was identified as a relative of the RJD candidate. One person was killed in a clash between two groups in Pratapur village of Sheikhpura constituency in Lakhisarai district. The Chief Secretary, K.A.H. Subramanian, however, denied that the clash had any electoral overtones.

In another incident of police firing, four persons were injured in Munger district. About three dozen incidents of violence and malpractices were reported besides a dozen cases where the voters boycotted the election process protesting against the non-existence of basic amenities or non-issuance of photo identity cards.

Significantly, two incidents related to journalists. In one case, an ETV reporter, Santosh Singh, lodged a complaint in Darbhanga against the RJD MLA, Lalit Yadav, accusing him of keeping him in illegal confinement.

In the second case, the district officials of Samastipur arrested the Sahara Samay cameraman, Ramesh Shanker, for entering a polling booth and filed a case against him under the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Polling in four constituencies was rescheduled to February 18 and 26 for security reasons.

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