Border dispute glitch in polls, The Telegraph, 14 October 2009

Border dispute glitch in polls

OUR BUREAU

Itanagar/Dibrugarh, Oct. 13: Arunachal Pradesh voted with gusto on a hot October day, but the state’s border dispute with Assam played a bit of a spoilsport, forcing adjournment of polling in two stations in the fourth Assembly election. The day temperature in Itanagar today rose to 32.1 degree Celsius, nearly two degrees above normal, leaving voters to brave a scorching sun. The chief electoral office put the polling percentage at 70, compared to the 65 per cent voting in the 2004 Assembly elections. In the last Lok Sabha polls earlier this year, the turnout was 69 per cent. Interestingly, Chakmas cast their votes for the first time in the state. Polling was held today for 57 seats in the 60-member Assembly. The ruling Congress has already won three seats uncontested. The day began peacefully till the Assam government objected to setting up of two polling booths in a disputed area at Saraipung under Borhat police station in Sivasagar district. The two polling booths — number 13 Naharani village polling station at Naharani ME School and number 14 Hasirusha village polling station at Hasirusha LP School — were set up for the Kanubari Assembly constituency. Polling was officially withdrawn around 11 this morning following an inspection by officials from the Tirap district administration and the state Election Commission. Additional deputy commissioner of Tirap, D.K. Das, — who led a team of officials from Arunachal Pradesh to the disputed site — said the polling booths were set up at the locations according to guidelines of the Election Commission which states that no voter should have to travel more than 2km. “We have been conducting various elections in this area since 1996 but there was no objection earlier from Assam. However, since an objection was raised this time, we decided to adjourn polling in the two booths. We do not want any clashes with our neighbouring states,” Das said. After receiving information about the two polling booths, the subdivisional officer (civil) of Charaideo, Dhiren Hazarika, and the subdivisional police officer of the subdivision, Jayanta Sarathi Bora, rushed to the spot from Sonari with a large contingent of police and CRPF personnel. The two officials had a meeting with Das following which polling was adjourned. Asked why the Assam government had not objected earlier to setting up of polling booths in the area, Hazarika said: “We were not aware of the exact location of the polling booths”. In other parts of the state, voters stood for hours in serpentine queues to cast their votes. “The poll percentage showed signs of increase than the 2004 polls. The final percentage will take some time to be compiled,” deputy chief electoral officer D. Bhattacharjee said. At Holongi in Papum Pare district, 248-odd Chakma asserted their democratic rights as citizens of Arunachal Pradesh. “For the first time, we have cast our votes and our struggle for getting voting rights has finally borne fruit. During the 2004 elections, our Chakma brethren cast their votes in Lohit district but we were not given the rights. But this time the government was gracious enough to offer us the opportunity to cast our votes,” 75-year-old Bilas Chakma, the headman of Kokila village, situated 40km from Itanagar, said over phone.