Mir Farhat
BARAMULLA, May 7: At 8.05 in the morning, a blast sent shivers down the spines of the polling staff inside the six polling stations housed in a Government school in volatile Palhalan area of Baramulla district that witnessed many incidents of pitched stone battles between security forces and protesters.
Police and CRPF men rushed into the rooms for cover and looked shocked after the explosion at the entry gate of the school. The women polling staff began calling their home, with fear writ on their faces. A CRPF personal received minor injuries in the explosion. Out of 3571 votes in four stations, no vote was polled till the explosion took place in the morning.
Earlier, the administration had shifted all the polling stations in the area to the school to enhance security as they had been declared hypersensitive by police.
Baramulla constituency has 15 candidates in the fray, with 1616 polling booths set up across the constituency at 1303 locations. This includes 822 polling booths in Baramulla district, 531 polling booths in Kupwara district and 263 in Bandipora district.
Out of the 39 polling stations from Palhalan to Wangipora in Sumbal, only four booths in Safapora and Sumbal saw brisk polling, while in the rest of the booths a few voters had turned up to cast vote.
In Sopore, 11 polling stations were relocated to a Secondary School to avoid the risk posed due to volatile atmosphere prevailing in the area. Out of total 9462 votes at these booths, only seven were cast till 9.30 in the morning.
“We have decided to boycott the polls to voice our dissent against repression,” the voters said, sitting some hundred meters from the booths.
In Dooru village, the hometown of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, not a single vote out of 671 was cast at the polling station No. 67. Police and security forces, wearing riot gear, were fighting pitched battles with stone pelters, who varied from 10-year-old boys to 40-year-old men.
The road and streets in Sopore town and in Zaingeer area were littered with stones, and groups of protestors and security men were watching each other eye to eye from a distance.
The boycott mood, however, shifted towards low polling as voters turned up to some booths in Bandipora.
At five polling booths in Kaloosa, Kanusa and Qazipora, 237 voters cast their votes out of 4210 votes till noon, with voters turning up in ones and twos toward the booths.
“I have voted for change to see more development and end to unemployment,” said Irshad Bhat, a young man after casting his vote at Kaloosa polling booth.
The mood was against boycott in Arin area of the district where voters were lined up for their turns. Out of the 1301 votes in two booths, 188 had cast their votes, and more voters were arriving.
In Malpora village of Sonawari Assembly segment, voters stayed away from the polls, as out of 1921 votes, only two were cast till 2.15 in the afternoon. Protestors outside the booth chanted slogans in favour of boycott.
On the contrary, five polling booths in Safapora and Wangipora in Sumbal saw brisk polling as 1975 out of 3937 voters has cast their ballot and the mood was festive among them.
“I have voted to see more development in our area under the present Government. Our area has seen much progress during the last several years. We have been provided better health and education facilities,” said Asif Ahmad, a post graduate in Psychology.
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