Jammu and Kashmir Elections
Interim Report of the Second Phase of the State Assembly elections held on 24th September 2002
The Report was prepared by the members of the Independent Observers’ Group, organized by the civil society coalition
The group’s terms of reference were: -
1. Use of coercion
2. Interaction with electorate to find out why they participated or abstained
In this endeavour we formed joint teams comprising of people from Jammu and Kashmir and different parts of India. The Civil Society Coalition sent four teams, which between them covered fifteen constituencies and around 120 polling booths in the districts of Srinagar and Budgam. While our final report with complete documentary evidence would be made available after the completion of the elections, we are releasing an Interim Report of the Second Phase.
Twenty one volunteers from all over India and J&K divided into four groups and toured for the following constituencies.
Team – I : - Kangan, Ganderbal and Hazratbal constituency.
Team – II : - Zadibal, Idgah, Khanyar and Habakadal constituency.
Team – III : - Amirakadal, Sonwar, Batamaloo and Chadoora constituency.
Team – IV : - Budgam, Beerwah, Khansahib and Char-e- Sharief constituency.
The rural areas of Budgam, Ganderbal and Kangan witnessed moderate turnout, due to local compulsions and coercion by the security forces but the constituencies from Srinagar witnessed a total boycott. While number of instances of coercion was fewer than in the first phase, the teams have come across instances at Habakadal in Srinagar, Teuhene in Ganderbal, rural areas in Budgam and Beerwah which merit serious attention. But unfortunately some of the instances were more violent than even in the first phase.
1. Kanihama, Beerwah constituency
There was a widespread fear of Rashtriya Rifles (RR) personnel, who had been forcing people to vote. From different sources across the village it was confirmed that the R.R. had got a young man to announce from the local mosque a threat that anyone found not having cast his / her vote would lose their index finger and have their legs and arms broken. The threat appeared to have worked partially as the grudging queues of voters indicated. We say grudging because they did say very clearly to us that they were herded to the booths under duress. Some of the people said they had put the indelible ink at home rather than go to the booth to suffer the humiliation casting their vote. This way they would be able to not cast the vote and also save themselves from the ensuing retribution.
2. Gundipora, Beerwah constituency
In this village we were surrounded by young boys who forced us to stop the car. We were then escorted to a nearby clinic where the villagers said a man had been taken after being assaulted by the S.O.G (Special Operations Group). We did indeed find the man who identified himself as Bashir Ahmed, son of Abdul Rahman
Butt, resident of the village, aged 42. He is a government employee. The man’s left arm was bleeding and had a deep gash and the doctor who saw him told us that the forearm may have been actually fractured. The crowd, by now angry and firmly perched inside the clinic and spread outside in the park, accused the police of beating several people who had refused to go to the polling booths.3. Kawoosa, Beerwah constituency
Our team went to this village because at the previous village they received hints from the JKP (Jammu and Kashmir Police) that there was trouble here. On reaching there, the crowds took the team into the village so that we could see the Rashtriya Rifles violence. The team asked the people about the violence in
front of the Rashtriya Rifles men and they kept shouting that they were forced out of their homes. Aiajaz Ahmed told us that his mother and grandfather were beaten along with him and were forced to come out of their homes. There were numerous such instances cited by the people. An aged woman said she was willing to cast her vote even under duress but failed to understand why the troops had dragged out her two grand daughters who were in their teens but not eligible to vote.4. Sunoor Kalipora, Beerwah constituency
The team was taking a break at a private home when a bus honked to ask our driver to move out of the congested alley. We came out to see scores of ordinary and terrified looking people, women and men, being escorted by the R.R. personnel ostensibly to the polling booth. When the question was posed to the
commander of this group of R.R., who was traveling separately in a tractor behind the bus, he said he did not know where the people were being taken or who was taking them. This was a brazen untruth, since the team saw the R.R. men sitting at the back of the bus. This village has been at the forefront of the
militancy in the early 1990s.5. Ompura, Budgam constituency
While returning from the Beerwah constituency, our team stopped for a moment in Ompura market where a 70 year old man, Khaliq Bhat was being abused by the Special Operations Group (S.O.G) personnel for abstaining from voting. The old man then thanked our team, as he said that he was saved because of our presence.
6. Soibug, Budgam constituency
Our team visited Soibug, the village which is located between the two huge camps of Army on its either sides (Shariefabad and Daharmuna camps). The residents from this village said that they are under the tremendous pressure from the army to cast their votes.
7. Zaindar Mohalla, Habakadal constituency
At 3:55 our team while returning from the Habakadal constituency, came across a big crowd of very angry and outraged women. They said some Special Task Force (S.T.F) men had entered at least a dozen homes, destroyed property and beaten up people for having boycotted the elections. Among the victims we met was 70 year old Fataa who was in a complete state of shock. Fataa’s daughter who was sick was dragged out of the bed. For the locality it was not only the attack which worried them but the threat of the S.T.F to come back in the evening to teach them a “proper lesson”. People were too frightened to lodge a formal complaint
with the police station because they feared the reprisals would be worse.
8. Kursoo Rajbagh Bund, Amirakadal constituencyAt 2:15 pm, when the team reached the area, the JK Police personnel were knocking door-to-door of houses, asking people to come out of their homes to cast their votes. The team found that none of the officials or constables in the police team were wearing their nameplates (which looked removed from their
shirts) and when confronted by the Observers’ team, they excused themselves on the pretext that they were only letting people know that the latter were free and safe to come out of their houses and that the earlier ‘encounter’ with militants at Rajbagh was over. This was clearly not the case as per the complaints received by the team from people in the locality.9. Teuhene, Ganderbal constituency
Our team decided to go into the interior areas of Ganderbal constituency. When we reached Teuhene (Block Lar) at 3:50 p.m., people saw our press stickers and stopped our vehicle complaining of Rashtriya Rifles going around asking people
to cast their ballot.Apart from coercion we would like to highlight different types of electoral malpractices that were observed by our team members.1. (a) At 9 a.m. our team went to Ganderpora polling booth no. 44 and found 8 votes had been cast between 7a.m. and 8:30 a.m. This was by one group of seven burqa clad women and one man. On inquiry the polling officials said that none of the women had any identification papers, although they said man had a voter
identity card. The polling agent of National Conference who vouched for these women was from another locality and could not actually identify these women. The local people who were outside the booth claimed nobody from Ganderpora locality had voted. They said the women and the man had come in a Sumo jeep. This was corroborated by the security personnel outside who told us that the only voters who come to the polling booth had come in a Sumo.
(b) In Bhagwanpura polling station also, we found that two women without any identification papers who were trying to cast their vote did not figure in the list of voters for the locality.This was also the case in Ghassi Mohala. In all cases, the women came in burqa.2. Voting by minors: In Aripanthan, Beerwah constituency, a minor girl of 12 years – a class VI student - cast her vote for the first time and told the team confidently that her friends too will be casting their votes. She had not only the indelible mark on her finger, but carried a voter card and had her name in the election rolls. This was not the only case which the teams came across of minors casting their vote.
3. Duderhama, Ganderbal, booth no. 19: Our team arrived in Duderhama (Ganderbal constituency) at 9:45 a.m. and visited polling booth 19. By then 72 votes were cast. The polling officer gave us the size of electorate as being 991. When we returned to the same booth at 4:15 p.m. when polling had closed the same polling officer told us that out of 1251 electorate strength only 170 had cast their ballot. We don’t know why and how voter strength was increased in the course of voting.
4. Lack of verification of voters: In most of the polling booths, the
directions laid down by the Election Commission of India for the verification of the identity of the voters were not being implemented; it was completely left on the discretion of the polling agents of the political parties to verify the identity of the voters.5. In Hasigund, Beerwah constituency polling booth the Electronic voting machine was awaited at 7.40 in another booth voting continued way beyond 5 pm. The Election Commission of India from time to time has announced that security forces are neither to ask people to cast their ballot or not to vote. Thus the fact that Rashtriya Rifles and S.T.F did go asking people to vote, accompanied at times with the threat of dire consequences, is highly improper. Equally the directive of the Election Commission that Burqa clad women have to show their face to the polling officer was not followed in any of the booths.
As per our calculation, identification of a bonafide voter, his or her
registration mainly accompanied by his or her signature, placing the indelible ink on the finger and then casting of ballot takes between 1- 1 ½ minute. This means that in a nine hour long voting period no more than 540 votes can be cast, which suggests an inherent shortcoming in accommodating larger number of votes.Finally, in addition to acts of coercion and malpractice, we would like to point to a salient feature of both the first and the second phase. This is with regard to our second term of reference, which was to interact with people to find out why they did or did not vote. Those who went to cast their vote voluntarily and affirmatively said that they were doing so either to defeat the National Conference or to back a candidate who they believed would address long-standing local issues. In response to the question whether elections would resolve the problem that has plagued Kashmir for 13 years those who voted as well as respondents who had not were unanimous in insisting that elections were by and large unrelated to the solution of their basic problem confronting the people and what they wanted was Azadi (Freedom).
Vijayan M.J.
Gen.Secy, Civil Society Initiatives – India
Ph:(011) – 6561743/ 6514847
Mir Hafeezullah
Convener, J&K CCS
Ph:(0194) – 456381Note: - Following were the members of the Independent Observers Team
1. E. Deenadayalan
2. Dr. Prakash Louis
3. Dr. Bashir Ahmed
4. Javed Naqvi
5. G.N. Hagroo
6. Gautam Navlaka
7. Mir Hafeezullah
8. Lata Jishnu
9. Zaheer ud Din
10. Mazhar Hussain
11. Nazir Malik
12. Khurram Parvez
13. Vijayan M.J.
14. Ram Rattan Chatterjee
15. Ms. Vimala
16. Ms. Dilafroze Qazi
17. Sajad Hussain
18. Adil Nazir
19. Shabeer Ibne Yousuf
20. Shaiq Nazir
21. Rizwan Alam