PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION PASSED OFF BY AND LARGE PEACEFULLY AMIDST BOYCOTT OF VOTE AT SOME PLACES

PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION PASSED OFF BY AND LARGE PEACEFULLY AMIDST BOYCOTT OF VOTE AT SOME PLACES

1-JUNE-ENG 1

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

ARA--------------------------General Election in 32-Ara Parliamentary Constituency and 195-Agiaw Assembly Constituency by-election were held by and large peacefully amidst boycott of vote at some places and tight security arrangement made by the Bhojpur district administration to conduct the elections in a peaceful, fair and fear-free atmosphere. The voting was going on at snail pace in Bhojpur district and only 38.3 percent votes were cast till the filing of this report at abour 3.30pm though some octogenarians came to the polling booths to cast their votes. The Ara Parliamentary Constituency consisted of seven Assembly Constituencies falling under the Bhojpur district and 2165574 voters including 1151480 male voters, 33 third genders and 18051 services voters are using their franchise right at 2249 polling booths made for the purposes. Voting started late at nine booths due to technical fault in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) which was rectified by the QRT team and the voting started smoothly, said the Bhojpur District Magistrate cum District Election Officer, Mahendra Kumar. The DM and the SP were seen very much active and they were taking update every minute from the control room. The DM solved the problem of slow voting at booth No 145.

Gender wise number of voters in all the 7 Legislative Assemblies under the 32-Ara Parliamentary Constituency of Bhojpur district is as follows:-

192 Sandesh Assembly Constituency has 296013 voters including 155983 male voters while 140028 female voters and 1 third gender while193 Badahara Assembly Constituency has 313385 voters including 168669 male, 144709 female and 7 third genders, 194 Ara Assembly Constituency has 337321 voters including 181743 male voters, 155574 female voters and 4 third genders, 195 Agiaw Assembly Constituency has 272603 voters including 144107 male voters, 128495 female voters and 1 third gender, 196 Tarari Assembly Constituency has 311910 voters including 164538 male voters, 147368 female voters and 4 third genders, 197 Jagdishpur Assembly Constituency has 318951 voters including 166164 male voters, 149219 female voters and 9 third genders and 198 Shahpur Assembly Constituency has 318951 voters including 170276 male voters, 148668 female voters and 7 third genders.

Bhojpur district administration divided all the seven assembly constituencies under the 32-Ara Parliamentary Constituency 256 sectors which were further put under 56 zones and 56 Zonal Magistrates, 20 Sub-Super Zonal Magistrates, Seven Super Zonal Magistrates and three Officers have been deputed. Besides, heavy police force and 39 companies of paramilitary force have been deputed at all the 2249 polling booths. Section 144 is imposed around each and every polling booths and the district administration has given strict instructions of ‘shoot at sight’ if any anti-social element tries to create nuisance or disturbance during the voting.

With a view to keep close eye on the voting process and maintain law and order during voting, the Bhojpur district administration pressed into operation Drones that kept round the clock on the voting process in Bhojpur district. The Inter-State and Intra-District borders of Bhojpur district was sealed while boat patrolling was done on the river Ganga and the river Sone to avoid any attempt of the anti-social element to disturb the election process. Besides, CCTV cameras were installed at 1125 polling booths for live telecast of voting process.

Earlier, all the polling personnel reached their respective polling stations with voting materials by late evening on May 31, 2024.

Bhojpur district administration made every endeavour to ensure cent percentage voting in the Ara Parliamentary Constituency so that the slur of low percentage voting could be wiped out but the voters seemed reluctant to come out of their houses for voting due to scorching sun and also they were uninterested. In addition to it, people of Barap village in toto and voters at booths No 53 and 54 under Shahpur Assembly Constituency and booth No 78  under Badahara Assembly Constituency boycotted the voting as they were dissatisfied with their MP, Raj Kumar Singh.  The voters of these places said that they have boycotted the election as despite several request from their people representative, no road was provided to them. So they decided to boycott the election on the issue “No road, No vote.”

Some voters complained that they were denied voting despite having EPIC and Adhar Card as their names were not available in the voters’ list. Former UP-Mukhia, Hariaharpur panchayat of Shahpur block Santosh Paswan (BDC)’s name is not present in the voters’ list and he could not use his right to vote at booth number 127-High Secondary School, Hariharpur. Santosh Paswan said that he was elected BDC in the last election and he lived permanently in his native village. He stated that he had never speculated that his name would be deleted from the voters’ list and questioned as to in what circumstances his name was deleted. He further said that his Voter ID Number is AJK-2409092 and when he searched his EPI number on the Voter Service Portal of Election Commission, he could not find the details.