Mumbai/Chandigarh / Itanagar: An estimated
66 per cent of the electorate on Tuesday exercised their franchise
in assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal
Pradesh amidst sporadic violence in which one polling agent
was killed.
Maharashtra registered 60 per cent turnout of voters
while Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh saw a much higher polling
of 66 per cent and 72 per cent respectively, Chief Election
Commissioner Navin Chawla told reporters in New Delhi.
Mumbai, the country`s financial hub, and its suburbs
saw a turnout of 50 per cent.
Exit polls by two television
channels today projected that Maharashtra`s ruling
Congress-NCP alliance would emerge victorious in the state
assembly elections and one of them predicted Congress victory
in Haryana polls.
A 48-year-old polling agent of an independent
candidate was killed in a clash with supporters of a Congress
nominee in Gulha assembly constituency in Haryana`s Kaithal
district, a police official said.
Reports of firing and clashes between Congress and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) supporters came in from Nima Kheri and other villages in Mewat district. Four people were injured.
Notwithstanding the massacre of 17 policemen five
days ago and poll boycott call by Naxals in Gadchiroli
district of Maharashtra, an estimated 55 per cent of
electorate cast votes while neighbouring Gondia, also hit by
Maoist menace, gave a stronger rebuff to the ultra-Left with a
68 per cent turnout.
Stray incidents of firing were seen in Gadchiroli
district where polling could not take place at 22 polling
station as the staff failed to reach the destinations because
Naxals put up obstacles, District returning officer Atul Patne
told reporters, said a report from Nagpur.
A total of six incidents of Naxalites opening fire were
reported today. In the first incident, a group of Naxals
opened fire in Kasansur in Ahri Taluka but the police did not
retaliate as part of a strategy.
In the second incident, Naxals fired a few rounds aimed
at polling station at Bonde in Korchi Taluka. A chhopper was
immediately pressed into service to send additional police
force there, Additional S P Gadchiorli, Manoj Sharma, said.
In an another incident, Naxals fired in Kawatha in
Kurkheda Taluka but none of the security personnel was hurt
in any of the incident.
Over 1.29 lakh state police and central forces were
deployed across Maharashtra where voting is being held for
288 assembly seats.
Among the early voters in Maharashtra were Union
Ministers Sharad Pawar and Vilasrao Deshmukh, industrialist
Anil Ambani, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and cricketer
Sachin Tendulkar, Bollywood icons Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh
Khan and a host of other film personalities.
Brisk polling was recorded in most places across the three states, the enthusiastic voters ranging from the poorest of the poor from urban slums to Bollywood`s millionaire actors.
"I voted because it concerns our future, our children`s future," Hindi movie star Aamir Khan told journalists after casting his vote early in the day in Mumbai. Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Zayed Khan etc were among other film stars who voted.
Expressing satisfaction over the poll process, Chief
Election Commissioner Navin Chawla told reporters that the
Commission would keep a close watch on the return of poll
personnel posted in Naxal-hit areas in Maharashtra.
Observing that polling parties could not reach to 22
polling stations in some Naxal hit areas in Maharashtra, he
said there would be adjourned poll in those areas.
On the gap between the polling and the counting date on
October 22, Chawla said political parties in Maharashtra did
not want the Diwali festival to be disturbed because of
counting.
Bureau Report
`Cong winning`
At least two TV channels predicted an upper hand for the incumbents in Maharashtra. One local channel gave Congress-NCP combine
between 135 and 145 seats in 288-member Maharashtra assembly
with Congress surging ahead with 75-85 seats and its alliance
partner NCP winning between 55 and 65.
Shiv Sena is projected to win between 55 and 65 seats and
BJP emerging victorious in 45-55 seats, it said.
Raj Thackeray`s MNS is seen by the exit poll as winning
between eight and 12 constituencies while others and
Independents 25-35 seats.
Another news channel predicted Congress victory in 89 seats and NCP
in 48. With 137 seats, it put the ruling alliance within
sniffing distance of 145 seats required for a simple majority.
The same exit poll showed Shiv Sena getting 62 seats and
its ally BJP 51 seats. It gave MNS 12, Republican Party of
India-led alliance five and others 21 seats.
The exit poll projected a Congress win in Haryana
with the party winning 57 seats in the 90-member Assembly.
INLD is shown winning 18 seats, Haryana Janhit Congress
(nine), BSP (three), BJP (one) and Others (three).
Thanks mainly to a splintered opposition, the Congress is expected to sweep Haryana and win in Arunachal Pradesh, the northeastern state which has been in the news because of Chinese claims to its territorry.
