M A I N N E W S

49 pc polling in Jammu-Poonch
15 hurt in clashes in Mendhar
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Three Poonch villages boycott poll over water scarcity CRPF men fire into the air in Rajouri dist Border villages outdo urban areas

Jammu/Rajouri, April 16
Voters in villages along the international border outdid voters in urban, semi-urban and adjoining areas by polling more percentage for the Jammu-Poonch seat in the 15th Lok Sabha elections held here today.

The Jammu-Poonch seat recorded 49 per cent polling, which was four per cent more than the last Lok Sabha elections. However, the figure is far less than the recent Assembly elections.

Akhnoor consisting of villages along the border and the LoC recorded 61 per cent polling. Suchetgarh and RS Pura consisting of border villages recorded 56 and 55 per cent polling, respectively. In contrast, the polling in Jammu was less than 48 per cent.

The election remained largely peaceful with a couple of firing incidents reported from the Poonch region. The areas where militancy was more active, like Mendhar, saw a low voter turnout compared to other areas. Residents of three villages boycotted polling in Poonch in protest against water scarcity. Residents of Gali Pindi, Salhotri and Dodi villages sat on a protest outside polling stations and did not allow any one to vote till 5 pm. They were protesting against the scarcity of drinking water, electricity and other basic amenities. They alleged that the sitting MP did not visit the area even once during the last five years.

Chief election officer BR Sharma has not announced a repoll saying the election process was not disturbed anywhere to such an extent to require a repoll. He said a repoll may be ordered after the report of the presiding officers was received.

Sharma said the firing incident in Poonch was misconstrued as firing by militants, whereas some hunters had fired at an animal in a jungle nearby.

In the Mendhar area of Poonch district, clashes between supporters of the NC and the PDP took place at at least three polling stations, resulting in injuries to 15 persons. The clashes took place at Salwa (44A), Gursai (49) and Chak Banola (47C) polling stations.

In Rajouri district, the polling was disrupted in Thannamang and La areas after clashes between activists of the PDP and the NC-Congress. At Thannamang polling station, CRPF personnel had to fire into the air to disperse the warring groups.

(with inputs by Ravi Krishnan Khajuria and Shariq Majeed)