Nishikant Khajuria
REASI, Dec 2: Deficiencies in arrangements for smooth polling under second phase of ongoing Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, irked of the voters at some stations in different constituencies, which went to polls today, notwithstanding the all out efforts and claims of Election authorities.
Even the Model Polling Station in Reasi Town also lacked adequate facilities and therefore a scene was created there when the Presiding Officer on duty entered into a brawl with the voters, who were up in arms against the authorities over poor arrangements.
Instead of pacifying the agitating people, the Presiding Officer namely Dr Akhilesh Kumar Mishra, entered into verbal dual with the former and even threatened to order use of Police force, eyewitnesses told the Excelsior.
The trouble erupted when some people standing in long queues for their turn to cast vote, complained of no arrangements like drinking water and chairs for handicapped at the Model Polling Station. Instead of listening to the grievance, the Presiding Officers allegedly retorted asking people whether they had come there to cast vote or drink water. Infuriated over the unwanted remark, people started protesting against the Presiding Officer and the scene continued for more than half an hour till the official left the scene.
At Polling Station number 25 of Malair in Talwara area of Reasi district, some people could not cast their vote as their names were missing in the electoral list despite their participation in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. A few were even more astonished to know that as per the electoral list, they were declared dead.
“The Polling Officer told me that I have been marked as dead in the electoral list and therefore I can not be allowed to cast vote,” said Anil Kumar son of Anand Kishore of Malair while displaying his voter identity card. However, he added, the BLO claimed that his name figured in the new list, which was not available with them.
Kaku Ram, son of Amar Nath of Malair also had almost similar tale to narrate and he alleged that showing them as dead in the electoral list was a conspiracy at the instance of one of the independent candidates in the fray.
Polling remained disrupted for around two hours at Saloon where the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) developed some technical snag. The EVM at Polling Station number 24 developed some fault at 12.55 pm and it took around two hours to rectify the snag, sources informed.
According to Shafi Mohd, Sarpanch of Bathoi-B in Gulabgarh area, some people were not allowed to cast their vote at Gaon Gali, Polling Station number 74 where the Presiding Officer stopped polling exactly at 4 p.m. Even as around 50 people were in the queue, the Presiding Officer closed doors the room where EVM was kept,” he alleged.
However, the SDM Mahore and ARO Ashwani Khajuria refuted the allegations and said that clear cut instructions had been passed to the Presiding Officers for allowing to cast vote by those people who enter the Polling Station premises by 4 pm. He also listed names of a few stations where polling continued even after 4 pm.
At Gaon Gali, there are 1019 voters and during the last Lok Sabha elections also, polling was continued till 10 pm to allow voting by the people who entered the station premises by the deadline, informed Sarpanch Shafi Mohd. “In view of the Lok Sabha experience, we had approached the authorities to make necessary arrangements for smooth and timely completion of polling but nothing was done,” he alleged.
Aggrieved over lack of basic facilities like drinking water, electricity, road etc in their area, people of Nomal, a remote area in Arnas under Gool-Arnas Assembly constituency, announced boycott of the election as soon as polling began this morning.
They refused to cast their vote and alleged that all political parties used to befool them during elections by promising development but nothing is done after the polls are over. Till 10 am not even a single vote was cast in the Polling Station Number 14. It was only after the intervention of Zonal Magistrate and SHO Arnas Ranjit Singh Rao that people agreed to cast vote and thereafter a brisk polling was witnessed.
This remote village, situated around 25 kms from Reasi town, has 311 eligible voters and 259 of them cast their vote till 4 pm, sources said.
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