Poll panel steps up security for voting

The Election Commission (EC), currently overseeing the state legislative assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, has turned down the state government's demand to do away with using indelible ink for marking voters' fingers.

The state government had earlier requested the EC to avoid putting ink marks in order to provide better security cover for voters, who face threats to their lives by insurgents if they participate in the polls.

According to an EC spokesperson here, while the commission is sympathetic to the voters and is taking all measures to provide them safety, accepting the state government's request may start a "wrong precedent" for the future.

"The ink mark is used to ensure no person votes more than once. This is a practice followed for long to discourage any attempt at bogus voting and has been by and large successful. There is no other method as effective as this that can protect against bogus voting," the spokesperson said.

He said since most of the polling officials have been brought in from other states to ensure neutrality by officials on duty, it is not possible for them to identify voters who, if not stamped with indelible ink, return to vote in someone else's name. Not all voters have been provided with the voter's identity card as yet in the state.

The EC is happy with the 47.2 per cent voter turn-out during the first phase of polling in which 23 constituencies, spread over five districts, went to polls on Monday.

In the second of the four-phased polling, 23 constituencies of Srinagar, Badgam and Jammu districts are scheduled to go to the polls on Tuesday.

Despite beefing up the already tight security in the light of desperate attempts by the insurgents to scare away the voters, the EC has also readjusted poll timings to ensure the process ends before it gets dark in the hilly regions of the state.

In place of polling starting at 8am and ending at 5pm, the polling now will start at 7am and end at 4pm.

"The idea is to ensure safe transportation of ballot boxes and give enough time to voters to return to their homes before it gets dark," the EC official said.

Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh and the two Election Commissioners T.S. Krishnamurthy and B.B. Tandon undertook their third visit to the state when they went to Srinagar on Thursday to oversee the arrangements for the remaining three phases of polling.

Lyngdoh had said that voting during the first phase went off even better than in some of the elections held ealier in the country. An immediate fall-out of the poll panle's visit to the state is the decision of the federal authorities to rush in additional security forces to the state.

The Home Ministry yesterday announced that 160 more companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are being deployed in the state to strengthen the security arrangements in view of stepped up violence by militants.

This is in addition to the 237 companies of the CRPF already stationed in the state to oversee counter-insurgency operations.

The decision to send additional central forces was taken since the neutral role played by the CRPF during the first phase of polling has come in for appreciation by all.

The local Jammu and Kashmir police were in the past accused of taking a partisan view and stamping ballot papers in favour of some party or the other, raising doubts about the fairness of past polls.