M A I N   N E W S

Voters defy boycott call in Kashmir
S.P. Sharma and Ehsan Fazili
Tribune News Service

Jammu/ Sangrama/ Pattan (Baramula), April 24
Virtually ignoring the call for the boycott of byelection to the four Assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir today, more than 62 per cent voters cast their votes. The number of voters this time was much higher than that in the last Assembly elections in 2002.

Barring two incidents of grenade blasts at polling stations in the Kashmir valley, the polling remained peaceful by and large. No such incident was reported in Bhaderwah where terrorists had been indulging in violence for the past few days in a bid to create panic among people.

Two incidents of grenade explosions caused injuries to at least 12 persons in the Sangrama and Pattan areas. Three persons were injured in a grenade explosion outside a polling station in the Palhalan area of Pattan constituency at about 9.30 a.m, while nine others were injured in a grenade explosion at Wagoora in Sangrama constituency this afternoon. Residents of these areas held protest demonstrations blaming the ruling parties of trying to intimidate the voters for supporting the opposition parties.

At least nine persons, including two security personnel and seven civilians, were injured when suspected militants hurled a grenade towards a polling station at Wagoora in Sangrama constituency this afternoon. The police said militant hurled a grenade towards the Higher Secondary School, Wagoora housing a polling station at around 2.35 p.m injuring a security man and two civilians.

At Palhalan the grenade explosion this morning was preceded by one last night which led to the National Conference supporters of Dr Mustafa Kamaal coming out openly against those of the PDP’s Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari.

Three persons, including a poll official, received splinter injuries outside a polling station in Astanpora village in the Palhalan area in Pattan constituency at about 9.30 a.m. The residents alleged that three persons who were wearing police uniforms approached the polling station in a vehicle and one of them hurled a grenade to disperse the large number of voters. They said the grenade did not explode immediately providing enough time to the villagers to flee. Three persons, however, received splinter injuries. They were given first aid. The injured included a poll official, Abdul Razaq Dar, who had come out of the polling station at the that time.

Soon after the explosion, angry villagers caught hold of two of the occupants of the vehicle (No. JK 03 1857) and handed them over to the police. The police officers on duty in the area confirmed that one of them was a police official and investigations were going on into the whole incident. The vehicle was damaged by the mob and was set on fire.

The opposition National Conference candidate and former minister Dr Mustafa Kamaal, who arrived at the scene after one-and-a-half hours blamed Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari of the PDP for the incident. He said this was “not an act of militants though the area has a sizable number of militants”. He said the police had confirmed that it had held one person following the blast.

The villagers held demonstrations trying to block traffic on Srinagar-Baramula highway in protest against the explosion outside the polling station. Another explosion had taken place damaging a shop on the highway late last evening.

Later, villagers came out in large numbers and there were long queues outside the polling stations in the area.

The Chief Electoral Officer, Mr B.R Sharma, said reports of voters waiting outside polling booths in all four constituencies even after 5 p.m, had been received.

The highest percentage of voting was reported from Bhaderwah constituency where Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is contesting the election. As many as 72 per cent voters cast their votes in the constituency against 54.25 per cent in the Assembly election in 2002.

This was followed by Rafiabad where more than 66.28 per cent votes were cast till 5 p.m and the figure was expected to go up as voters were still waiting for their turn. The voting percentage in the constituency was 52.54 in the 2002 election.

The turnout was unexpectedly high today in the Sangrama constituency where 40.32 per cent votes were cast till 5 p.m. Mr Sharma said people were still waiting for their turn at five polling stations in the constituency. The segment had registered only 22.10 per cent polling in 2002.

About 56.25 per cent polling was registered in Pattan constituency where only 41.55 per cent votes had been cast in 2002.

These figures indicate that there was enthusiasm among the electorate who defied the diktat of separatists at this crucial time when the round table conference of the Prime Minister is scheduled to be held in Srinagar next month.