- Heavy polling in rural areas, slightly low in urban belt
- Mismanagement, untrained staff lead to long queues at some booths
- People suffer at many places due to no voter slips
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Apr 26: Tentative 72.32 percent turnout was recorded for Jammu-Reasi Parliamentary constituency which went to polls today in second phase with 12.87 lakh 
electorates exercising their right to franchise from a total of 17.80 lakh as Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Assembly segment recorded highest 79.43 percent polling while Bahu registered the lowest percentage of 62.34. Fate of 22 candidates including Jugal Kishore Sharma (BJP) and Raman Bhalla (Congress), the main contenders, was sealed in the EVMs which will be opened on June 4.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) PK Pole told the Excelsior that tentative 72.32 percent voting has been recorded in Jammu-Reasi seat. He added that polling concluded peacefully at all 2416 Polling Stations.
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Tentative polling percentage of 72.32 was almost equal to 2019 Parliamentary polls when Jammu seat registered 72 percent turnout. Jammu-Udhampur Lok Sabha seat which went to votes in first phase on April 19 recorded about 68 percent polling.
Out of a total of 17,80,835 electorates, 12,87,835 cast their votes including 6,61,240 male, 6,26,586 females and nine transgender. Polling percentage was high in rural areas while it was slightly on lower side in urban segments.
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Pole congratulated all the first-time voters and expressed his gratitude to the electorates who came out in large numbers to cast their votes. He appreciated the polling personnel engaged in the election process for their service in making the ongoing elections successful.
Assembly segment wise voting percentage stood as Shri Mata Vaishno Devi (79.43), Marh (79.31), Akhnoor (78.27), Bishnah (76.54), Suchetgarh (75.94), Chhamb (75.76), Vijaypur (75.68), Nagrota (75.63), Ramgarh (75.27), Samba (74.72), Reasi (74.19), Gulabgarh (73.92), Kalakote-Sunderbani (69.10), RS Pura-Jammu South (68.11), Jammu North (67.29), Jammu East (66.11), Jammu West (62.82) and Bahu (62.34).
Long queues due to less number of polling booths, mismanagement due to untrained polling staff coupled with various other factors like heat and non-availability of water were among the factors which resulted into less turnout in the City Assembly constituencies as many people preferred to return home instead of waiting in the queue to exercise their right to franchise.
“Such was the inept handling of electorates by the untrained staff that at many polling stations it was taking five to seven minutes for one person to cast a vote. When we are equipped with eligible identity cards, it should hardly take couple of minutes inside the booth to cast our vote at the EVM. But one has to approach four officials before reaching to the EVM,” said Dr Vinod Kumar after casting his vote at Part No. 24 in Assembly constituency Bahu.
A woman Milan Sharma at another Polling Station in Gandhi Nagar said there were just seven persons ahead of her but it took them an hour to cast their votes and she had to wait in the queue in extreme heat conditions of her turn. “Seeing seven persons ahead of me, I was expecting a wait of 15 to 20 minutes only but it took an hour. This is nothing but sheer mismanagement at the level of polling staff who were either untrained or were intentionally delaying the process,” she alleged.
Worst was the situation at Government Girls High School Gandhi Nagar polling station where the people had to wait for three to four hours to cast their votes.
“It’s just reprehensible. In this age of modern technology, it’s unbelievable that people will have to wait for three hours to cast their votes. Something is seriously wrong with the polling staff,” a number of people waiting in the queue said. Many of them were seen leaving queues to return home after waiting for an hour or so without casting their votes.
Notwithstanding claim of the Election Authorities that all electorates will be issued voter slips four to five days ahead of the polling day, large number of people said they were not provided the slips. Some of them had seen Serial Numbers and name of polling station from ECI’s website while others reached nearest polling booths which again took extra time to cast the votes.
However, the electorates were fully satisfied with security arrangements at the polling stations especially the help rendered by police and paramilitary personnel to senior citizens, people with disabilities and others who required any kind of assistance.
Voters were also aghast over the decision not to allow mobile telephones inside the polling stations.
“Where should we keep the mobile telephones while waiting in a queue for an hour or even two hours? Some of us have to attend urgent calls,” the electorates asked and wonder what would happen if they take the mobile telephones along with them.
“The Presiding Officer can just ask us not to click photos while casting votes. That’s alright. However, keeping mobile phone outside has no logic,” they said.
Some of these factors were stated to be responsible for low turnout in the City Assembly constituencies like Jammu North, Jammu West, Jammu East, RS Pura-Jammu South, Bahu etc as compared to rural Assembly segments.
“People in the Cities don’t wait for long in the queues. However, this is not the case in rural areas. Therefore, rural Assembly constituencies recorded good turnout as compared to urban segments,” the political observers opined.
Besides the voters, the political leaders also admitted that number of the polling stations should go up and there should be well trained staff to minimize waiting time for the electorates.
A total of 22 candidates were in the fray including Jugal Sharma (BJP), who has won the Jammu seat twice in 2014 and 2019, Raman Bhalla, a former Minister (Congress), Jagdish Raj (BSP) and Ankur Sharma (Ekam Bharat Sanatan Dal).
Officials said various polling stations were set up in buildings having underground bunkers including Nanga, Abdal, Sarthia Kalan, Rajpur, Chalyari and adjoining areas along the International Border in Samba district.
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh cast his vote in the Trikuta Nagar. He said there is massive excitement among the people. “This is the base of successful democracy and that is why it is called a festival… All the phases will turn out to be great for the BJP,” he told reporters after casting his vote.
Sitting BJP MP from Jammu-Reasi seat Jugal Kishore Sharma, who along with his family members voted at a polling booth set up at the Kishenpur Government high school in Nagrota, said the people should come out of their homes and contribute to a strong democracy by exercising their right to vote.
BJP UT chief Ravinder Raina, who undertook visits to various polling booths in Samba and Jammu districts, thanked the people for coming out in large numbers to vote.
“People are coming out of their houses since morning and voting. They enthusiasm is high. More voters should come out of their houses to exercise their right,” he said.
Congress candidate Raman Bhalla, a former Minister, who along with his family polled vote in Jammu, expressed happiness over the smooth polling going in the constituency.
“I am proud to say that this time hopefully we will get blessings of Mata Vaishno Devi. We will win the constituency. Reasi has been included in Jammu constituency so that we can get the blessings of Mata,” said Bhalla.
In a polling station in Reasi district, 102-year-old Haji Karamdin exercised his right to franchise.”I am very happy to vote at this polling station at this age,” he said.
Some of the people in the rural areas said they are happy as almost all Government schemes reached the border areas, ensuring the upliftment of the people and the development of the region.
However, few others were critical of the Government saying the promised five marlas of land for border residents to ensure a roof on their heads during cross-border shelling had remained a distant dream.
Rajni Devi, a resident of village Satrian in the R S Pura sector, said she would like Prime Minister Narendra Modi to return to power as there is a lot of improvement in the lives of the border residents due to the ceasefire and developmental activities.
“We are farmers and want everlasting peace between the two countries so that we can tend to our land on the zero line without any fear. Peace means opportunities and education for our children,” another voter, Swarn Lal said.
Long queues of voters were seen outside polling stations in the Suchetgarh Assembly segment, where 41.85 per cent of voters had exercised their franchise till 1 pm.
The enthusiasm among the voters was also visible in the Ramgarh sector of the Samba district, where the voters also talked about the growing menace of drug abuse among youngsters and inflation.
“Unemployment is on the rise as a result of which the youth are falling prey to narcotic smugglers. Drug abuse is on the rise and there is a need to engage the youth in positive activities by generating employment for them,” Kamlesh Kumar, a middle-aged voter said.
She also expressed concern over inflation and demanded that the Government should focus on lowering the prices of domestic gas and essential and daily use items to provide relief to the people.
She demanded the closure of wine shops.
“The Government has sanctioned and constructed bunkers for our safety. They should also provide us five marlas land at safer places and arrange special recruitment drive which had not taken place for a long period,” a villager Kuldeep Singh said in RS Pura.
More than 15,000 polling staff had been deployed while security arrangements were foolproof to ensure free-and-fair polls, the officials said.
Of the 2,416 polling stations 158 were along the International Border and the Line of Control (LoC).
Around 1,454 polling stations had CCTV cameras for live webcasting to control rooms and around 124 polling stations had two cameras for inside and outside surveillance, the officials said.
Around 2,000 vehicles of polling parties and sector officers were equipped with a GPS system so as to locate the vehicle and monitor movement, including over speeding.
Besides, satellite phones, wireless sets and special runners had been put in place in around 13 polling stations, which fall in communication shadow areas, they said.
Jammu is the second Lok Sabha seat in Jammu and Kashmir to go to polls. Earlier, polling was held in the Udhampur seat on April 19, recording a voter turnout of around 68 per cent.
Meanwhile, 109 Special Polling Stations were set up to cater to different categories of voters, including women and persons with disabilities, across the Jammu Parliamentary constituency.
The officials said the innovative polling stations — women manned, youth manned, PwD manned, green polling stations, border polling stations and unique polling stations — were designed to cater specifically to women, youth, persons with disabilities, promote eco-friendly practices and cater to voters of different kind in the region.
In Jammu district, three women manned, three PwD manned, two youth manned, four green, 50 border and three unique polling stations were established, the officials said.
Similarly, they said that three women manned, three PwD manned, three youth manned, three green, 12 border and two unique polling stations were established for ease of the voters in Samba.
Likewise, three women manned, three PwD manned, three youth manned, four green and one unique polling station were set up in Reasi district.
In Sunderbani-Kalakote segment of Rajouri district, one woman manned, one PWD manned, one youth manned and one green polling station were established.
The newly established polling stations aim to revolutionize the electoral process by ensuring accessibility and representation for all segments of the society, the officials said.
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