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| Saturday, 24 April 2004 |
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Voters defy rebel threats in Indian elections India Thursday (AFP) Voters defied guerrilla threats and turned out in big numbers Thursday to cast their ballots in northeastern India's revolt-hit Tripura state in the second leg of a marathon general election. "Turnout in the polling that has ended peacefully is reported to be around 63 to 65 percent," an election official in Agartala, capital of the Marxist-ruled state, told AFP by telephone. Voters showed "tremendous enthusiasm despite the call by the rebels to boycott the elections," the official said. The final turnout tally could be higher, he said, as officials were still awaiting reports from remote areas of the hilly, verdant state. In the last general election, average national turnout was 60 percent. There was heavy security in Tripura, the lone state voting Thursday in the five-stage general elections expected to be won by the ruling Hindu nationalist party, as security forces guarded long queues of voters that snaked outside polling stations. The tribal rebels, who are unhappy with an influx of outsiders and what they say is exploitation of the region's natural resources, had threatened voters with "dire consequences" if they cast ballots. Some 20,000 security forces members were deployed for the elections, said Tripura state police chief G.M. Srivastava. The heavy police presence gave "people the security to vote," he said. India's election process began Tuesday and is being staggered to allow security forces and officials to move around the vast country. The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which controls the central government and has been campaigning on a "feel-good" platform highlighting India's booming economy, and the main opposition Congress both fielded candidates in Tripura. But the Marxists were expected to retain the two seats up for grabs in the far-flung state that has long been a communist bastion and is home to an array of rebel groups, some seeking separate homelands, others autonomy. Militants opened fire at Tripura voting booth early in the day, in what police said was a bid to scare people, but caused no casualties. Earlier this week militants told people in four villages they would chop off their fingers if they voted, police said. The outlawed All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) had called for the boycott of the vote, branding the elections a "futile exercise". At least 10,000 people have died in an insurgency in Tripura over the past decade. In the election run-up last week, four securitymen were killed in a rebel ambush. |
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