gaddam@remus.rutgers.edu (Surekha Reddy Gaddam) (05/20/91)
Date: Mon, 20 May 91 09:54:07 EDT From: Sundar.Vallinayagam@speech1.cs.cmu.edu Approved: gaddam@remus.rutgers.edu Subject: Election News (BBC Report) This is a summary of initial election news. Source: 1300 hrs. GMT BBC News Hour Bulletin. The massive security operation to prevent violence in the general elections has failed in a number of places. Today is the fist day of voting for the Indian Parliament. Further voting will take place on Thursday and Sunday. At least 20 people have been killed so far in various incidents of violence. Security has been especially tight in Bihar and U.P. Despite such strict measures, seven people have been reported killed in Bihar. One of them includes an official in a polling booth. There has been trouble in 7 of the 35 constituencies in Bihar. Fourteen people have been reported killed in the northern state of U.P.--11 of them in the city of Meerut. Curfew has been imposed in 4 places in this state so far. On the whole, there has been a rather low turnout of voters. This might partly be due to the oppressive summer heat. This low turnout is likely to benefit the hindu revivalist movement, the BJP, as they seem to be the best organized party so far in trying to get their voters to the polling station. Chandan Mitra talking to Owen Bennet Joness said that on the average 40-45% of the voters have turned out to vote so far. This is slightly lower than the previous turnouts for the general elections. In the final analysis, about 50-55% are expected to vote for this general elections. As said earlier, the BJP is expected to benefit the most due to this low turnout, while the Cong(I) is likely to suffer the worst. There were 3 major opinion polls conducted. Only one of them predicted an outright majority for the Cong(I); the other two expect the Cong(I) to win the largest number of seats, but not absolute majority. It might have to rely on other parties to form a govt. The BJP mounted a very vigorous campaign for this election. Even in states like West Bengal and Karnataka, where it does not enjoy much popular support, it carried on a well organized campaign, making it the most visible among all parties. The chief mullah in Delhi has issued a religious fattwa asking the Muslims to vote for the Janata Dal of V.P. Singh. The sole aim is to defeat the BJP. In places where the Cong(I) seems to be best alternative to the BJP, the Muslim voters are expected to vote for the Cong(I), even if this means defying the religious edict. Voting is under way in 17 out of the 42 constituencies in Andhra Pradesh. In Hyderabad, there has been a high turn out. There has been a few incidents of small-scale rigging in the city. People casting more than one vote and the removal of the indelible ink have been observed. The underground Marxist groups have called for the boycott of elections and have threatened people with violence if they go to the polls. They hide in the forests during the day, and in the night come out and write threatening graffiti on the walls. But the people are expected to defy this threat and still vote. The TDP is expected to offer a much better fight to the Cong(I) than it did in the last general elections, when it fared very poorly. Ramli. (ramli@orca.ele.uri.edu)