4 killed, 57 per cent turnout in fourth phase of polling

New Delhi, May 7 (PTI) At least four persons were
killed -- three of them in West Bengal and one in Rajasthan --
as stray violence, police firing and booth-capturing attempts
marred the fourth phase of polling in India's general
elections which saw a turnout of 57 per cent of nearly 95
million voters.

A member of a political party was reportedly shot dead
in Nandigram in West Bengal but there was no official
confirmation of this, Deputy Election Commissioner R
Balakrishnan told reporters here.

A Communist Party of India (Marxist) worker was killed in
a bomb attack by unidentified persons in Jangipur, where
Congress stalwart Pranab Mukherjee is in fray and a voter was
killed and eight persons, including three policemen, were
injured in Asansol Lok Sabha constituency in Burdwan district
when armed men opened fire.

One person -- stated to be a CPI(M) worker -- was killed
in an attack allegedly by Trinamool Congress at Amta of Howrah
district after the polling. Amta CPI(M) MLA Prattyush
Mukherjee claimed the deceased was his party activist.

One person was killed when paramilitary personnel opened
fire to prevent a mob from capturing a booth at Olwara village
in Rajasthan's Sawaimadhopur district.

Despite the violence, West Bengal, where 17
constituencies went to poll in the fourth phase, drew the
highest voter turnout--75 per cent--followed by Punjab (65 per
cent), Haryana (63 percent), Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh (50
per cent each).

To a question on CPI(M) demand for a repoll in some
polling stations in West Bengal, Balakrishnan said decision
would be taken after examining reports submitted by the
Returning Officers and observers.

Delhi, where seven seats are up for grab, saw a turnout
of 50 per cent, outdoing Mumbai where the turnout was a little
over 40 per cent.

Among the early voters were President Pratibha Patil,
Vice President Hamid Ansari, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi,
Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister
Omar Abdullah, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Punjab
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his deputy Sukhbir Singh
Badal, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Union
Minister Kapil Sibal.

Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh
(Ghaziabad), Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav
(Mainpuri), Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad
(Pataliputra), Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh and National
Conference chief Farooq Abdullah (Srinagar) besides Pranab
Mukherjee are the big names contesting in this phase.

Polling for Srinagar constituency, where Abdullah is in
fray, evoked a voters response of 24 percent despite a boycott
call by separatists, as against 11.93 per cent turnout in
1999 elections.

Balakrishnan said the poll process was totally peaceful
in Uttar Pradesh barring an incident of forcible voting in a
polling station in Agra parliamentary constituency.

The Commission has sought a report from the state CEO and
a decision on repoll will be taken later, Balakrishnan said.

Referring to the polling in three parliamentary seats in
Bihar, he said two additional observers had been despatched to
Patliputra constituency, where Lalu Prasad is contesting, and
no complaint was received from the state.

Balakrishnan said reports of poll boycott in 22 polling
stations--18 in Nalanda and four in Patna-- were received.
In Rajasthan, polling was vitiated in ten polling
stations, another Deputy Election Commissioner J P Prakash
said. Most complaints pertained to forcible voting, he said.

Four incidents were reported from Tonk, two from Dausa
and one each from Pali, Karauli-Dholpur, Jhalawar and
Bharatpur, he said.

In Punjab, polling was by and large incident-free except
for a couple of cases of EVM damage.

Polling was peaceful in Haryana barring some incidents of
poll boycott by villagers on issues of water for irrigation
and delimitation, he said.

In Faridabad, polling has to be stopped for about 40
minutes after some miscreants tried to enter a polling booth
forcibly at 4:00 p.m., Shukla said. PTI