From Ahmed Ali Fayyaz SRINAGAR, Sept 28: Election Commission of India has taken a serious note of the Police inaction on an FIR which had been lodged against the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president, Mehbooba Mufti, in May this year. Election Commissioner, B B Tandon, today called the Director General of Police, Gopal Sharma, and directed him to submit a detailed report on the progress, if any, achieved in the electoral offence allegedly committed by the PDP chief during this year’s Lok Sabha elections. In April this year, Mehbooba Mufti had physically prevented a woman voter from exercising her right of franchise at a polling station at Burn Hall School in Sonwar area of Srinagar. The PDP leader had forced her own entry into the polling station with half-a-dozen of her armed guards in violation of electoral laws, lifted the Muslim woman voter’s burqa, exposed her face to television cameras and made her leave the polling station. In the wake of an uproar over the incident, followed by NC’s threat to pull out of two phases of the polling, ECI had directed the Returning Officer, Kh Bashir Ahmed, to lodge a formal complaint with Police. Consequently, the RO approached Police and an FIR was registered at Ram Munshi Bagh Police Station against the PDP chief. However, Police have reportedly slept over the case and there has been no considerable achievement in the investigation. With the by-elections for four Assembly seats around the corner, ECI has called for a detailed report from the DGP. Election Commissioner, B B Tandon, confirmed at a news conference here this afternoon that he had met DGP and asked for a report in the matter this morning. The DGP pleaded that he was not readily abreast with the progress in the investigation and promised to send a detailed report to the EC shortly. Tandon, flanked by Deputy Chief Election Commissioner Noor Mohammad and J&K Chief Electoral Officer K B Agarwal, said that the investigation was a timebound process and it was Police which was directly accountable to the Court. Still, he said, he called the DGP and desired to learn what progress had been achieved in the FIR against Mehbooba Mufti. Tandon said that during his visit to Srinagar, he had a series of meetings with the delegations of different political parties, who all, according to him, expressed full faith and confidence in the credibility of the electoral process and impartiality of the Election Commission of India. Tandon said that the main Opposition party, National Conference, levelled a host of allegations against the ruling parties and the state government and sought corrective action by the EC. The NC, according to him, complained that the State Government had launched a number of developmental works, including construction of a sports stadium at Seer Hamadan, floated tenders for a large number of works, misused official machinery and adopted other measures in violation of the code of conduct to manipulate the elections. One of the allegations said that over 5,000 fake voter’s identity cards had been issued in Batmaloo and Pahalgam recently and the process was still underway. The ECI, according to Tandon, took cognizance of the allegations and asked for detailed reports from the Chief Secretary. Even as it was observed that just 140 identity cards had been issued in recent past in Batmaloo and Pahalgam, Tandon ordered immediate suspension of the process. He said that genuine voters could exercise their right of franchise and they could prove their identity with the help of a number of documents like a ration card, passport or driving licence. Tandon said that on the submission of some political parties, ECI had decided to send one more election observer to Batmaloo and Pahalgam. Earlier, ECI had deputed four observers—two each in Kashmir and Jammu—for monitoring the electoral process in the four Assembly segments. ECI, according to Mr Tandon, had also decided that all Presiding Officers in Batmaloo and Pahalgam would be drawn from the offices of the Government of India while as Polling Officers would be necessarily from other segments. He clarified that even those posted anywhere in a particular segment would not be employed as Polling Officers in the same segment. He said that ECI had taken this decision on a complaint lodged by the NC. In reply to a question, Tandon asserted that Police and security forces had been categorically asked not to force any voters to cast his or her vote. He said that he had made it adequately clear to the authorities that it was none of the armed forces’ business to force the voters to go to the polling stations in order to increase the percentage of turnout. He assured that Police and security forces would only create an atmosphere of security in which every voter could decide whether or not to cast his or her vote. He, however, made an appeal to the voters that she should exercise their fundamental right of returning their representatives. Tandon said that the EC had begun the process of intensive reviewing of the electoral rolls in Jammu and Kashmir after a gap of 16 years. He claimed that enumerators and supervisors had visited every house in the State and updated the electoral rolls with the latest enumeration and identification of the electors. When journalists retorted that none of the enumerators or supervisors had ever visited their houses or those of others in their localities, Mr Tandon said that he would investigate the complaint and call for a report from the concerned Deputy Commissioners. He said that ECI would, for the first time, involve NGOs and Resident Welfare Committees for proper incorporation of the genuine electors and deletion of non-voters. ECI would also use Post Offices for receiving the complaints from common people and voters. Complaints would also be entertained on telephone. The draft rolls, he said, would be properly made available to all concerned and displayed at fixed places. Finally, the electoral rolls would be published on January 3, 2005 and the entire data would remain continuously available on a website. Tandon said that ECI had made necessary arrangements to ensure that the displaced electorate exercised its right smoothly at different relief camps besides the Resident Commissioner’s office at New Delhi. The facility of postal ballot had also been provided and the last date for submitting specific forms had been extended. PTI adds: Warning separatist leaders against stopping people from voting, Mr Tandon said action will be taken against security force personnel involved in forcing people to exercise their franchise. He said anybody found intimidating the voters and stopping them from voting will face action. "At the same time we will not tolerate that any security force personnel forcing people to vote," he said, adding that instructions have been issued to field commanders to ensure that people are not harassed. "We have made all necessary arrangements to provide a conducive atmosphere to the voters to exercise their franchise without any fear." When asked why the separatist leaders were being arrested during their anti-election campaign, Mr Tandon said he has no information about it. "Since law and order is a state subject the local authority must have arrested these leaders for violating the law." |
