Fear of poor polling led State and Centre to seek cancellation
of Anantnag by-poll
Jammu, May 3 (KIP):- Apart from fluid security scenario possibilities
of poor polling on May 25 the Central and the st ate Government
mounted pressure on the Election Commission of India to cancel the
Anantnag Lok Sabha by-poll.
The Election Commission had demanded that 74,000 security
personnel be deployed on May 25 to ensure violence free polling but
the Union Home Ministry made its position clear by telling the
Election Commission that it was not possible for I t to spare 680
companies for the poll when commitments for maintaining law and order
in may states were high.
Even the Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir had conveyed, in
writing to the Election Commission that the situation was not
conducive for holding the poll because subversives had started
torching school buildings. This way both the state and the central
Government did not want to face criticism in case violence eru pted on
the day of polling in Anantnag as had happened in Srinagar-Budgam
constituency where eight people had been killed.
What actually led the Government to force Election Commission to
cancel the poll was the fear of poor polling. In Srinagar Lok Sabha
constituency on April 9. 74 per cent of polling was recorded, the
worst ever figure. This boosted the morale of the separatists, who had
given a call for poll boycott, militants and Pakistani agencies.
Separatists had started telling their supporters that poor
polling indicates their success and peoples' anger against the
coalition Government. Pakistan twisted the poor polling figure saying
that people were against democracy and wanted implementation of the
UN resolution to settle the Kashmir issue. Hence neither the state nor
the central Governments dared to face a si tuition similary to the one
it had faced I n Srinagar Lok Sabha polling.
When violence erupted on the polling day in some parts of
Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, both the National Conference and the
Congress demanded cancellation of polling and now Omar Abdullah has
started berating the state and the cent ral Governments for getting
the poll cancelled.(KIP)
