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Genuine Victory
More
than the final mandate, what will mark the elections in Jammu and Kashmir
is the fair and free manner in whcih they were conducted. In that sense,
it is the first true poll since 1977, observes India Today's Lakshmi
Iyer.
The United
States called it "free and fair". Foreign journos found
no fault it. Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh said it was
better than any other election in the country since
Independence.
As Jammu and Kashmir went to the polls, thefinal verdict didn;t
matter. What did was the "victory" of the election process itself.
Defying widespread pessimism, the Election Commission ensured that the
polls were the first credible election after 1977 in the
trouble-torn state. Though Lyngdoh initially treated with contempt suggestions
for allowing international observes, the commission ended up issuing passes
to 28 embassy officials—only 16 of them used it—to monitor the
polls, earning in the process the much-needed credibility.
The commission
went out of its way to lend a degree of
impartiallity to the polls. It deployed government officers from
neighbouring states on poll duty, ordering large-scale transfers
of officials and insisting on voter identity. Of course, the Delhi
Shiv Sena protested against officials from other states being put
on poll duty in a state that enjoyed special status under Article
370. But the commission did not allow itself to be deterred by
it.
"In
1996 also we had drafted civil servants from outside the
state. But this time we had meticulously deployed them," says K.J.
Rao, secretary to the commission. While separatists boycotted the 1996
elections, one of the main cases agaisnt the 1987 elections was that Delhi
allegedly helped the National Conference rig the elections.
According
to Rao, the poll panel this time had drafted 2,500
officials from Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, paying each of them an
honorarium of Rs 12,000 plus other admissible allowances for the
month-long poll duty. Poll officers at each polling booth were
mixed—two from J&K and two from Uttar Pradesh/Punjab. Half
the number of presiding officers in the assembly constituencies were from
outside the state.The poll officials have also been
quarantined in CRPF camps. Rao admits that while Uttar Pradesh
officials have had no problem in discharging their duty, their
counterparts from Punjab have not been too happy.
The commission
also carried out intense revision of polls that
were last revised in 1988. They were computerised by entrusting
the work of data entry to the Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy. J&K
officials from the assembly constituencies went to Lucknow and
Kanpur with their electoral rolls for this purpose. Electronic
Voting Machines were also introduced.
The commission's
steps inspired such voter confidence that the
voting percentage for the first phase went up to 48 per cent. The turnout
encouraged political leaders such as Congress president Sonia Gandhi to
address a rally in Srinagar. The voting per cent also triggered speculation
that the commission would take additional steps to improve voting by changing
polling timings from 7 a.m. -- 4 p.m. to 8 a.m- 5 p.m. Dismissing any
scope for change in timings, Rao says, "We are interested in instilling
confidence by conducting impartial elections. Voter turnout is not our
objective."
Independent
observers such as Jehangir Khan of the Institute of
Social Sciences testify the commission's objective. "Voters in
Kupwara for instance were very enthusiastic. Everyone wanted to vote out
the National Conference but were afraid of the militants. Which is why
polling picked up only in the afternoon," he says. "Unlike 1996,
no one was coerced to vote. People actually raised the coercion bogey
to buy peace with militants." There were many who agreed with him.
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