Election stories

Massive response in Poonch
Naveen S. Garewal & Shariq Majeed
Tribune News Service

Women queue up for their turn to vote at a polling booth in Poonch on Monday. — Tribune photo by Anand Sharma

Poonch, November 17
The first phase of polling in the three Assembly segments of Poonch district received an overwhelming response indicating “a vote for change”. People came out and voted with vengeance in the three segments of Poonch, Mandher and Surankote, averaging above 60 per cent polling in these areas, substantially higher than the 2002 poll.

The large poll percentage in a multi-cornered contest is being viewed as an anti-incumbency vote with a hope to bring in clean and new faces that will perform.

Mandher: 73 pc Surankote: 63 pc

Initial figures that may still go up slightly on account of some reports that are yet to be received from far-flung areas put Mendhar with 73 per cent polling as one of the highest in the state. Poonch recorded 73 per cent polling and Surankote that still has pockets of militancy reported 68 per cent polling.

After nearly two decades of militancy in the state, the people have voted with the hope that the next government will now focus on some development. The 2002 poll had seen 40 per cent poll in Surankote and 60 per cent in both Mendhar and Poonch.

Most political parties have remained unsure about the pulse of the people and have gone all out to lure the voters. The parties reportedly have doled out huge amounts of money to influence the voters, but many incidents have gone unreported due to inaccessibility of many remote areas. Both the PDP and the National Conference (NC), who are hoping to form the next government, have reportedly used means other than fair to garner votes.

The polling has been by and large peaceful, barring minor skirmishes. In one such incident, workers of the PDP and the NC came to blows over non-functioning of an electronic voting machine (EVM) at the Kotan polling station near Mendhar town. Seven persons, including presiding officer Shakeel Ahmed, were injured in the clash. Similarly, four more were injured in a clash at another polling booth in Darana village of Mendhar tehsil. Yet, more incidents of damaging an EVM at the polling station in Suralia and polling station in Naroal were also reported in Mendhar constituency.

Unaware about the model code for conduct of elections, five government employees, including the presiding officer, landed themselves into trouble and were later arrested after they were found to have stayed at the house of a close relative of a PDP candidate last night. All of them have been booked under the Section 17 of the Public Representation Act at the Gursai police station for the breach of an official conduct in connection with the elections. Some disruptions were also reported from Dhargloon “B”, Harni and Poonch.

The current poll in the Jammu province is being contested on the issue of development. The people have openly expressed their displeasure with many sitting legislators, who they say have “ignored the development of the area and made corruption an acceptable thing in the area.” With the elections having been taken place in a free and fair manner here today, it is expected that the “vote for change” will bring in many new faces that “reflect promise for the area”.