April 5, 2007
Low Turnout,
Stray Violence in Delhi Civic Polls
New Delhi
Close to half the 9.9 million voters in the Indian capital voted
Thursday to pick a new civic body in a prestige contest for the
ruling Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with stray
incidents of violence marring the nine-hour balloting.
Officials said well over 42 percent of the electorate had cast their
ballots to elect a new 272-member Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD),
now dominated by the Congress.
The democratic exercise was largely peaceful. But stray incidents of
trouble were reported from about a dozen places across the city,
forcing the police and paramilitary forces to act.
State Election Commissioner S.P. Marwah did not spell out the reason
for what he called was a low turnout, much like the 45 percent of
2002. "We were expecting a better show," he said.
Although the election is only for MCD, the outcome of which will
have no bearing on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress-led
coalition, it will nevertheless be seen as a sign of public
discontent if the Congress gets voted out in the nation's capital.
There were a dozen incidents of violence, police said.
The situation turned tense after voters in Madanpur Khadar, on the
fringes of south Delhi, clashed with the police alleging that bogus
voting was on. Security forces used batons to disperse mobs after
some tried to halt the polling.
Similar incidents including group clashes were reported from Narela
and Bawana in northwest Delhi, Badarpur in south Delhi, Maujpur,
Nithari and Seelampur in east Delhi and Hasthsal in west Delhi.
In some places, voters pelted the police with stones after
electronic voting machines developed snags. In Kotla Mubarakpur in
south Delhi, a large number of people demanded extended polling
hours to make up for faulty voting machines.
Nine musclemen from Haryana were arrested for allegedly disrupting
the polling in Badarpur, close to the Delhi-Haryana border.
In all, the electronic voting machines developed trouble in over 100
of the 9,949 polling booths. Over 200 technicians were rushed to
various places to set them right.
Around 10,200 electronic voting machines were used - a first during
civic election in Delhi. "We have taken note of the difficulties
faced by voters due to faulty electronic voting machines," said
election official Marwah.
Despite a scorching sun, 31 percent of the electorate had voted by 2
p.m. But many polling centers were near empty throughout the day,
particularly in areas inhabited by the upper middle class.
In the contest were 2,575 candidates, including a very large number
of independents. A total of 272 members are to be elected - up from
the 134 wards that existed five years ago.
The authorities increased the number of wards to improve governance.
This also led to a large number of residents entering the battle
arena.
Both Congress and BJP were confident of winning, the latter more so.
"Lots of restrictions by election commissioners are one of the major
causes for the low turnout. Due to the restrictions, the political
parties could not create the right atmosphere," explained Delhi BJP
chief Harsh Vardhan.
Delhi Congress Chief Ram Babu Sharma echoed the same feelings. "The
Election Commission should think about its restrictions once again."
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