Wednesday, Oct 09, 2002
Wednesday, Oct 09, 2002 |
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By Shujaat Bukhari
The Chief Electoral Officer, Pramod Jain, said in Srinagar that the Inderwal segment recorded the highest turnout of 61 per cent and Banihal the lowest with 41 per cent. The overall percentage in Doda district and Lolab was put at 46. Soon after the polling started at 7 a.m. and the people were heading towards the booths, two militants, wearing police uniforms, hurled grenades and opened fire at the security personnel guarding the Town Hall polling booth killing two CRPF jawans of the 45 battalion on the spot. One CRPF jawan and a police constable were injured. The personnel engaged the militants for about 15 minutes and gunned down one while another managed to escape, police said. Madhukar Manday, a CRPF constable who saw his colleagues falling down, said: "He (the militant) came and fired, but we did not allow him to enter the poling booth". A note was recovered from the slain militant in which the district commander, Abu Zahid, had warned those participating in the elections, terming it a "fraud". He had listed 10 activists of the ruling National Conference, including the Minister for Home, Khalid Najib Suhrawardy, on the hit-list. Four grenades, six magazines, 150 rounds were recovered. The militant has been identified as Zakir Hussain from Kota Kharangal of Doda district. The Director-General of Police, Ashok K Suri, the Inspector General of Police, Jammu zone, P.L. Gupta, and the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Anil Goswami, flew to Doda and took stock of the situation. "This is an act of desperation on part of the militants to disrupt the poll process,'' Mr. Gupta told The Hindu. Militants attacked five more places but there were no reports of loss of life or injury. Polling was suspended in the Town Hall booth for 45 minutes. The Presiding Officer, D.R. Parihar, said that he and his 13 colleagues took shelter behind a wall when the firing was on. Other booths in the town also witnessed brisk polling till 4 p.m. In all the segments of Doda, Bhaderwah, Inderwal, Kishtwar, Ramban and Banihal, the scene was quite different from urban areas, which witnessed a boycott. Braving militant threats, people came out in large numbers to vote. Reports said the polling was dull in the upper reaches where the militant threat still looms large. In Kishtwar town, polling started on a positive note with serpentine queues seen outside the polling stations. By 8.10 a.m., 76 votes of the 1855 votes had been cast at the Kishtwar Higher Secondary School. The Matta polling station polled 38 voters by that time. At the women's exclusive polling booth, enthusiasm was much visible with 90 out of the 1532 votes polled by 8.50 a.m. At the Thathri polling booth of Inderwal assembly segment, 136 votes out of 1029 had been polled by then. The Bhaderwah segment too was not lagging behind and witnessed a good turnout. By 2 p.m., 325 votes out of 583 had been cast at Berreru village. Gath village near Doda saw brisk polling with 800 out of 1400 votes polled at the end of the day. In some areas, however, reports of alleged coercion were reported, including Dhara and Ratipadarna. In Doda town, a scuffle took place between the supporters of the National Conference candidate, Khalid Suhrawardy, and an independent candidate, Majid Wani, with the latter alleging that some women were waiting to vote after the time for voting had expired. Police, however, intervened and sorted out the matter.
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