68% vote in Assam, no violence

PM's failure to cast vote irks voters

Despite an inclement weather, sporadic rain and generally dismal climatic conditions, an estimated 68 per cent of the 9.2 million electorate today cast their votes in the first phase of Assembly elections in Assam, which passed off peacefully, in sharp contrast to militancy-marred democratic exercises in the last several decades.

In this phase, 65 of the 126 Assembly constituencies went to polls amidst unprecedented security.

The polling began on a dull note but as the weather cleared, the electorate, especially women and youths, came out in droves to take part in the election that would decide the fate of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi among 515 candidates in the opening phase.

Deputy Election Commissioner R Bhattacharya said in Delhi about 68 per cent of the electorate cast their votes in the first phase.

Unlike polls in the past, which had been marred by militant violence and boycott call by them, balloting today was peaceful with people coming out without fear to vote at 9,723 polling stations to decide who will represent them in 65 of the total of 126 constituencies.

Both banned United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) and the National Democratic Front for Bodoland decided to keep away from the election, their back, apparently, broken in the wake of the "Operation All Clear" undertaken in Bhutan against Ulfa and Bodo camps by the Royal Bhutan Army two years ago.

Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa instead asked the people to vote for the party, which would raise the issue of Assam's "sovereignty". Ulfa "commander-in-chief" Paresh Barua's octogenarian mother also cast her vote.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gurcharan Kaur were conspicuous by their absence from voting at polling station number 155 under the Dispur constituency, where they were listed as voters, evoking mixed reactions. Some claimed Singh, being the Prime Minister, was "setting a bad example by not voting" while others were sympathetic to him stating he was away possibly due to his busy schedule.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission said it was "looking into" the BJP allegations that the Prime Minister had violated the model code by announcing a Rs 602 crore package for the poll-bound Assam on Sunday. "The commission is looking into the matter," Deputy Election Commissioner R Bhattacharya told reporters.

Earlier, charging the Prime Minister with violating the model code, the BJP petitioned the poll panel, demanding a suitable "punitive and corrective" action against him.

A five-member BJP delegation led by party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi met Chief Election Commissioner BB Tandon and alleged the Prime Minister's announcement yesterday was a "violation" of the model code of conduct.

Election Office sources said the Prime Minister, elected to the Rajya Sabha from Assam in 1991, had cast his vote only in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections but did not vote in the 1991, 1996 and 2001 Assembly polls. According to district returning officer Avinash Joshi, no application was received from the Prime Minister to vote under clause 20(4) of the Peoples Representatives Act, 1950.

The clause has a provision for special category of people such as the President, Prime Minister, ministers and governors to cast their vote by postal ballot.