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The penultimate phase of this year’s Lok Sabha elections on Wednesday saw more voting than ever before. While the 25 seats in Andhra Pradesh’s Seemandhra region witnessed 76 per cent polling, despite searing heat, West Bengal reported close to 82 per cent turnout in its six constituencies.
By comparison, though voting in Uttar Pradesh’s 15 constituencies was muted, at under 56 per cent, it was still higher than the average 44 per cent seen in 2009. Among states that saw low turnouts, Jammu & Kashmir disappointed the most. While there were no votes cast in Sopore town till 2.30 pm, only 12 votes were cast in the hometown of Afzal Guru, the main accused in the Parliament attack case who was hanged last year.
But there was no denying that everyone was on edge as the nine-phase election entered its last lap. One of the two rallies the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, was to address in Varanasi (including one in Beniabag) on Thursday was cancelled, without any warning by district authorities. Also, he was not permitted to participate in the Ganga Maha Aarti at the city’s famous Dashashwamedh Ghat by local authorities, who cited security reasons and tips from the local intelligence unit and also asked to shift the location of a meeting with 150 citizens of Varanasi to the outskirts of the city. Late at night, the returning officer allowed all but the Beniabag rally. The BJP, however, continued to cry foul. (CRUNCHING 2014 ELECTION NUMBERS)
A furious BJP lashed at the local administration, which, it claimed, was taking directions from the Samajwadi Party to disrupt Modi’s election campaign plans. To protest Varanasi returning officer’s “partisan attitude”, party leader Arun Jaitley said he and BJP senior functionary Amit Shah will sit on a dharna and follow it up with a hunger strike in Varanasi on Thursday afternoon. The party will also stage a protest outside the Election Commission (EC) in Delhi. At the time of filing of this report, the returning officer had permitted only one of the four events, a public meeting in Rohaniya locality, the BJP had proposed for Thursday.
Permission was refused to the Maha Aarti at Dashashwamedh ghat, a highly choreographed and stylised ceremony with sandalwood incense and blazing tiered oil lamps. It is an event revered by Hindus and considered the ultimate purificatory ritual at one of the holiest of all ghats on the banks of the Ganges. It is a public event but the political impact of the presence of Modi with his supporters there could not be denied.
In Amethi, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Kumar Vishwas alleged large-scale intimidation and rigging by the Congress, while BJP’s Smriti Irani objected to the presence of outsiders in the constituency on the voting day. The outsiders included Priyanka Gandhi’s secretary, Preeti Sahay, not a resident of Amethi.
While there were clashes among supporters of YSR Congress President Jaganmohan Reddy and others in some parts of Seemandhra, firing claimed one life in Bihar’s Sitamarhi.
The central government was seen in a divest-power mode in Delhi. Sonia Gandhi resigned as chairman of the National Advisory Council, the think-tank that many allege worked as a parallel Prime Minister’s Office over the past 10 years. Also, ministers wrote to the urban development ministry, offering to vacate their homes and seeking alternative accommodation.
