Apart from a few incidents of violence in Naxal-affected Gadchiroli area of Maharashtra, Assembly elections in three states went off peacefully today. Till evening, polling percentages in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh were recorded to be 60, 66 and 72 per cent, respectively, but the Election Commission said these were likely to go up after the final figures were calculated.
At the time of filing this report, a polling team in the Gadchiroli district had not been able to come back to their base camp as armed Naxals had gathered in the nearby areas. Chief Election Commissioner Naveen Chawla said reinforcements and army helicopters have been sent and the polling team will reach its destination camp safely.
While the polling pattern in Haryana has always shown a high turnout, Chawla told Business Standard there was an improvement in Mumbai this time, compared to the Lok Sabha elections held in April-May.
Chawla also expressed satisfaction over the polling today as the Commission took a lot of effort to ensure smooth and better management of holding elections. “In Arunachal Pradesh, we especially installed 31 telephone towers, most of them in the Tezu area, for better communication. For the first time, satellite phones were used by the Commission in Arunachal Pradesh, along with Naxal-dominated areas of Maharashtra,” Chawla said.
As polling percentages in the city areas of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, were higher, it might favour Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray. His party — a debutant in the elections — was trying to woo young voters over the issue of job opportunities for Marathi Manoos. In Haryana, Congress sources claimed the party’s position is comfortable after today’s polling as a large turnout will ensure smooth victory for the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government.
Gadchiroli, barring some stray incidents of firing on polling stations, witnessed around 55 per cent voting. “Gadchiroli always surprises us; this time, too, it was good turnout,” Chawla told reporters.
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However, polling could not take place at 22 polling stations as the polling parties were unable to reach the booths this morning due to Naxal obstacles. Though there were six incidents of Naxal firings, not a single casualty was reported from anywhere in the three states.
In Haryana, one polling agent died after a scuffle with another polling agent. Stray violence in the state have left around 20 people injured.
The counting will take place on October 22 for the three states. “In Maharashtra, all political parties told us in written applications not to do the counting before Diwali. Also, in Arunachal, there are difficulties in commuting to various remote areas,” Chawla told reporters.
In the border state, even after using choppers to ferry polling personnel, in 32 booths, the polling parties had to walk for a day to reach the spot, while in 13 booth, they had to walk through the jungles for almost 48 hours to reach the venues.