Suchetgarh (Zero Line), April 16
Though this time around serpentine queues were missing and the voting moved at a snail’s pace, people in at least eight villages close to the Zero Line in Suchetgarh sector turned out to exercise their franchise in the 15th Lok Sabha elections.

Yet again, “Bijli, Pani, Sadak, Shiksha” and their fenced out agricultural fields took them to polling stations in the border belt.

Amid tight security arrangements the Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha constituency spanning over four districts of Samba, Jammu, Poonch and Rajouri today went to the polls in the first phase.

Ruralites, especially women, again voted in a hope of better infrastructure in the form of roads, electricity, health care, education and job avenues.

At the polling station No. 23 in Suchetgarh, barely 300 yards away from the Zero Line, 55 per cent voting was reported till 2 pm. Out of a total of 909 voters, 497 voters, including 251 women and first-timers, cast their votes by 2 pm. A first-timer, Vandana Sharma, felt that every voter must cast his or her vote, but at the same time was skeptical about development.

“Politicians come to us during every elections, but after assuming power they vanish”, said Vandana, adding that like other voters she too had certain aspirations. A septugenarian, Bachan Singh, also felt the similar way. “We have seen enough of shelling and firing from across the border. We have learnt to live with such incidents. But being citizens of the country residing near the Zero Line, we want that the government should now pay heed to our grievances, including our fenced out agricultural fields,” he added.

Despite scorchig sun, villagers turned up at polling stations in Suchetgarh, Baspur, Rangpur Maulana, Chandu Chak, Bhojpur, Kaloain, Korotana Khurd, Nai Basti and Abdulian, villages close to the Zero Line. Echoing similar views a newly married woman Anita Sharma said she had cast her vote in a hope that politicians would ensure development in Baspur.

An ex-servicemen, Thoru Ram, at Kaloain, said apart from development farmers in this Basmati rice belt wanted their fenced out agricultural fields back. Though the BSF had started relocating the fence close to the Zero Line, at least 100 hectares from Korotana Khurd to Nai Basti still remains across the fence.

Jammu, April 16
In the Nagrota constituency, many people had to return without casting their votes due to discrepancies and errors in voter lists.

Many people returned disappointed as they could not cast their votes because of error in their names and the voter I-card numbers mentioned in the voter lists.

Expressing resentment, Rameshwar Dutt, a sarpanch in the Nagrota constituency, said, “I got confused as my voter card number was mentioned as 417 instead of 505 in the voter list and I had to cast my vote against number 417.”

Similarly, Makhan Singh’s card number was mentioned as 212 instead of 53 and he had to cast his vote after arguments with the voting agents and the presiding officer.

Madan Lal Barne said he was debarred from voting as his name was not there in the voter list, whereas Sunil Sharma complained that his name was written as Satish Kumar and was not allowed to cast his vote.

Women were not much aware about the candidates or political parties and also could not explain the reason for their participation in the electoral process.

However, a majority of voters, particularly the young voters, said they had cast their votes for electing a good government. They said they wanted that candidate to win who would work for the overall development of the country and would fight against terrorism, corruption, and for the uplift of the poor and the unemployed.

Stressing that the wining candidate should find a solution to the unemployment problem, Makhan Singh, a voter in the Nagrota constituency, said, “The candidate should work for the abolition of the reservation system, which is the main reason for the rising unemployment among the educated youths in the state.

At Government Boys High School, Nagrota, out of the 724 voters in the first polling booth, only 324 voters, including 128 women, cast their votes, whereas in the second polling booth out of the total 983 voters, 512 voters, including 211 women, cast their votes.

Meanwhile, in the Rathore Dok polling booth of the constituency voters held the polling staff responsible for discrepancies in the voter lists.

In this area, around 200 voters were debarred from voting, as their names were missing from the voter lists. Out of the total 468 voters, only 232 voters, including 96 females, cast their votes.

Bela Jamana, April 16
Braving a hostile terrain and scorching sun, aged people came out in large numbers to vote in this village along the border today.

Undeterred by focus on young voters in the 15th Lok Sabha elections, the aged electorate came out in large numbers, changed couple of vehicles, walked barefoot to exercise their franchise.

“I have come to make a statement that we also exist,” said Bahiya Bibi, who is over 80 years of age and walks with the help of a stick. She travelled over 5 km from Pargwal to this village to cast her vote. “I have voted in all elections held in the state. This is our day. People remember us. Usually, many walk by us without even wishing us, but today all remember us,” she said bitterly.

Resham Bibi, another octogenarian who voted in Nagrota, said she did not want to waste her vote sitting home. “Moreover, if we don’t vote, elected representatives would not bother for us.”

This correspondent met Suraj Singh in Jaurian town near the border. He could barely walk with the help of a long stick, but did not want to miss the chance to vote. “It gives me satisfaction that I am choosing the government,” he explained. “See, many youngsters are coming in cars of supporters of a candidate, but I won’t go in these vehicles.”

Dhyan Devi in Nagrota said women always voted in elections. “This is a good day for us to get decked up. It was like a mela for us,” she said.

Jammu, April 16
Urban elite as well as a major chunk of intelligentsia stayed away from casting votes. However, the otherwise bustling roads of the city were relatively calm and vacant.

Since there were official holidays, including Good Friday, Baisakhi and Ambedkar Jayanti, so either working people are on outing or they preferred to stay indoors.

“It is like any other holiday. Who want to go into scorching sun for the opportunistic politicos?” quipped a government employee.

“There is a very limited choice between the politicians contesting elections. All parties seem to be short of ideology, vision or approach to redress the national or regional issues,” Nanvneet Gupta, who is working with a private company, said.

Most of the students putting up in college and varsity hostels preferred to stay here instead of going to their native place for exercising their right to franchise.

“This is exam time and nobody wants to waste their time in travelling all the way to home just for casting the vote,” a student at MAM College hostel said.

“We had already assessed the public mood this time so we started carrying election awareness campaign amongst villagers and people belonging to low-income bracket in city and far-flung areas,” a worker of the Jan Jagriti Manch, Ashwani, who has been motivating people to exercise their right to vote, said.

Describing the trend as dangerous for the country, he said: “If educated and right thinking people don’t come forward to cast vote, one can easily anticipate what kind of people are going to rule us.”

Srinagar, April 16
As scores of vehicles crisscross Gupkar Road, Srinagar’s most known address which houses the state’s VIPs, with flags of different political parties atop them, the buzz for the parliamentary elections, which are still two weeks away, is unmistakable in the summer capital.

If the residences of leaders like NC president Farooq Abdullah and PDP patron Mufti Sayeed are crowded with supporters and strategists, their offices resemble a similar busy feel. The scene is in stark contrast with the feel of apprehension which had gripped the mainstream party leaders and workers prior to the Assembly poll.

Ghulam Nabi Lone, an NC worker from Pulwama who was in Srinagar to attend a meeting, said he would not tell others in his village about his meetings in towns during the Assembly poll. “The public mood was ruled by separatists and we kept quiet. I became confident only after three phases of poll when momentum was visible. Now everybody is talking about elections while separatist supporters are keeping quiet,” he said.

The swarm of workers in the PDP office here talk about the keen contests developing in Anantnag, which goes to the polls on April 30, and Srinagar, which votes on May 7.

The threat of militant organisations like Hizbul Mujahideen, which had announced to refrain from violence during the Assembly poll but has threatened to disrupt the parliamentary elections this time, has apparently made no palpable impact on the ground.

Farooq Abdullah publicly denounced HM’s chief Syed Salahuddin based in PoK, saying he could not do anything. “Everybody knows militants are against elections. Why should we bother just because they have renewed their threats?” asked Shabir Ahmad, a PDP worker from Pattan.

The security forces believe that HM’s statement is also an indication of its frustration over an expected high turnout. “They claimed to stay away from elections last time because they thought the public sentiment was with separatists but they were proved wrong. It’s just an attempt to scare people,” an official said.

Srinagar, April 16
Former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has said that the fast emergence of the PDP as a strong political force is the peoples’ endorsement of the party’s agenda and vision on the state.

Mufti Sayeed was addressing election rallies while launching the election campaign in his home constituency - Anantnag - in south Kashmir today. It goes to the polls in the third phase on April 30.

The PDP patron said a strong and credible political voice from the state, with people’s mandate, was needed to represent the state’s aspirations at the highest forum in the country and carry forward the reconciliation and resolution process initiated in 2002.

Mufti reiterated his party’s resolve to rededicate itself to the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir problem through civilised and internationally acknowledged democratic means. He said given its strategic location, the state had a pivotal role in anchoring political stability and economic prosperity in the region for which resolution of the problem was a fundamental requirement.

Reaffirming that cooperation and not confrontation is the key to the new challenges emerging in the region, Mufti Sayeed said continuation of the peace process set off by then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in April 2003 and carried on by his successor, Manmohan Singh was a historical necessity and neither the country could afford to go back on it nor would Kashmir issue disappear by whatever else happens around it.

He called upon the leadership of the country and that of Pakistan to take note of the sentiment of peace emanating from the state, Mufti said both countries must accord this sentiment the respect it deserved and address the issues concerning the state with a sense of urgency, sincerity and seriousness.

Jammu, April 16
Blind voters in the region alleged that Braille-enabled EVMs have proved irrelevant as they were not educated how to handle these machines to exercise their right to franchise.

As per the 2001 Census, there are as many as 2,08,713 blind people in the state. However, president of the All J&K Blind Federation Mohinder Badyal says that there are only hundred blind voters in the province.

Badyal said visually challenged people living in far-flung pockets of the state could not make it to the poling booths set up at 5 km away from their residence. “Neither the blind people evince interest in getting voter-I cards nor the authorities concerned get them registered,” Badyal disclosed.

“The Election Commission did not educate us about vote casting mechanism through Braille-enabled EVMs,” says Badyal coming out of the polling centre at Ranbir Higher Secondary School this morning.

Badyal said there was only one school, Government Residential School for Blind, Roopnagar in Jammu. “The school was set up in 1962 and since then the number of seats have remained 25,” he said and complained that there was no such school for girls.

Srinagar, April 16
People associated with the tourism sector in the state have taken some of the recent reports in media that Taliban have sneaked into the Kashmir valley’s frontier district of Kupwara with a pinch of salt. This they believe is being done to ‘sabotage’ the impending tourist season.

“This is all media-hype and there is no truth in such reports. This way they are killing tourism in the state,” president of the House Boat Owners Association (HBOA) Mohammad Azim Tuman said.

Tuman said: “Though our ministers and defence agencies are denying such reports, a strong statement need to issued in Press so that the dust is cleared at the earliest. This will ensure some revival of the tourism sector.”

G M Dug, a leading hotelier, said: “Such reports may hamper the prospects of tourism, especially when the tourist season is here. We’ve already faced huge losses last year and reports of Taliban in Kashmir can adversely affect our business.”

Another hotelier Javaid Ahmad said he had been receiving mails from his prospective customers enquiring about the truthfulness of such reports.

“Are such reports deliberately circulated to tarnish the image of tourism in the valley or is it intentionally done to give a setback to tourism sector here?” says Javaid.

Some of the reports in media suggested the presence of Taliban in Kupwara district. These reports were outrightly rejected by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and NC president Dr. Farooq Abdullah. Other leaders, including PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, have termed such reports as baseless.

While Army officials have negated these reports, DGP Kuldeep Khoda said: “There are some reports that Taliban have come close to the border of the state.”

However, there are some who say that instead of Taliban, some Pashtu-speaking militants have sneaked in with some among them being arrested over the last few days.

Army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor has already said there are no Taliban in the valley and termed such reports as baseless.”

Jammu, April 16
The Ambedkar Studies Centre, Jammu University, organised a lecture on ‘Dr. Ambedkar as a Sociologist: Beyond Reductionism’ here yesterday. The lecture was delivered by Prof PG Jogdand, a scholar of the Department of Sociology, University of Mumbai.

Prof. Jogdand emphasised that Dr Ambedkar was not an armchair academics or sociologist. He was a leader and social reformer whose primary concern was to liberate Dalits from shackles of social oppression and translate his philosophy into action so as to build a new social order. 

Udhampur, April 16
Over 70,000 visitors of all faiths witnessed the three-day historic Baisakhi mela, which concluded here last evening.

The mela is held near the sacred Devika rivulet which has temples of different deities, including Kamehswar Mahadev and Hanumana, Rama-Laxmana and Radha-Krishna, along its banks. The visitors seek the blessings of Lord Mahadev and other deities.

Various departments had put up their stalls to educate people about various government- sponsored schemes.

The Information Department organised a cultural programme on the occasion.