Bride for a price

Watching the northern region has its own surprises and occasionally you tumble across facts that seem completely out of the box. What caught my attention recently was the exploits of a con woman who was taking advantage of the extremely skewed sex ratio in Haryana.

The con woman, who was caught in Haryana sometime ago, was perpetually “marrying” people and then running away with the booty from her so called husband’s house. Taking advantage of the fact that men in the marriageable age, particularly those from the family of marginal farmers, find it extremely difficult to get a bride, the con-woman used to “marry” a person after taking amount ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh. This was not all. She used to decamp with valuables of the house when no one in her “marital” home was around.

She “married” five times but was caught when trying the trick for the sixth time in a row. The woman, with the help of her accomplices, had another trick up her sleeve. She used to threaten her “husband” that she will approach police for harassing her for dowry lest he part with an agreed amount and set her free. The hapless “husband” used to part with the money and that was the last he saw of his “wife”.

Given the social conditions prevailing in parts of rural Haryana, there could be several such con-women going around with their “business” without any problem. The “unfortunate” lady was caught even though she “married” in different sub-divisions of the state. The modus operandi was an eye-opener. In my career in journalism, which took me to different parts of the country over the years, I had never come across a situation where such a trick was used to con people.

Then there are numerous “marriage bureaus” in the mofussil and smaller towns which too are doing brisk business in the state. Such marriage bureaus do exist in other parts of the country as well but what is unusual is that most of them have eligible male bachelors on their records. While in other parts of the country, groom seekers seek the services of such bureaus, in these parts of the country – Haryana and Punjab – it is mainly the bride seekers who are ready to pay through their nose, to get a bride using the services of such match makers.

Haunted by the dubious distinction of being a state with the lowest sex ratio in the country at 877 females per thousand males as compared to the highest of 1084 males per thousand males in Kerala, the marriageable men of Haryana had never had it so bad.

While the rich farmers still manage to get wives for their sons, though with great difficulty, the marginal farmers and those on the edges find it extremely difficult to find a bride. No wonder in their desperation, they resort to buying brides as they have to have for somebody to do the domestic chores at house, look at their farms and animals and also to meet their biological needs and desire for progeny. Here, caste system goes for a toss. Nor is religion or the state from where the girl hails from given any consideration. “After wedding, women belong to the caste and the religion from where their husbands hail from,” goes the saying in the rural belt. The “bride purchasers” have another reason and logic. “Beggars are not choosers,” they say. And indeed in the marriage market, the eligible males in some regions of the states are beggars.

With such a demand, triggered by years of sex determination tests and resultant female foeticide, the traffickers had never had it so good in the state, known otherwise for its agriculture, sports and hardworking people. Recently, the Delhi police busted a gang that used to abduct young girls and sell them off to middle-aged men and their brothers in Haryana as brides.

But abduction is not the norm as poor families in several states and the north east willingly give away their daughters in “marriage” to these men in Haryana who either failed to find a bride despite a desperate search for several tears or are widowers. The families of these girls also get paid for the “brides” and the expenditure incurred in wedding. Most of such girls are illiterate or came from extremely impoverished backgrounds where even one meal a day is difficult to come by.

Haryana has also emerged as a major destination for trafficking of girls from the Northeast who are sold as brides in the state. Hissar has emerged as a prime destination for trafficking girls from Assam. In a recent meeting of the Home Ministry, police officials from the north-east flagged the issue.

The state government realises the gravity of the problem but cannot do much. It can come in the picture only if there is a complainant. The Haryana Government has implemented Centrally-sponsored Ujjawala scheme to prevent trafficking of women and children and for rehabilitation of the victims but this hardly comes in the way. The poor families of states like Jharkhand, Kerala, North East and others who have given their daughters as “bride” on their own accord due to financial consideration, do not and will not complain.

At a UNFPA sponsored meeting in New Delhi in December, where I too was a participant, a speaker pointed out that two Haryanvi words have more or less become a rural lexicon. These are Molki and Paro. Molki simply means a bride bought for a price while Paro means someone who has been brought from some other state. Almost everyone from the rural belt in the arid zones of the state, bordering Rajasthan and the interiors, had heard of these two words and knew a Molki or a Paro in their village. While some of these women had adjusted to their new life and learnt the local language, the younger ones, with different dietary habits and language, found it extremely difficult to cope up with the new situation in which they were suddenly thrown in.

As per Census 2011, Haryana had 877 females per 1,000 males. The last census in 2001 showed the sex ratio to be 861. The state ranks lowest among all 28 states on the sex ratio front. Against Kerala's high of 1,084 females per 1,000 males, Haryana reports a sorry number of just 877.

Ironically the sex ratio of 877 in Census 2011 is the highest since 1901. This perhaps explains why there are few females in the marriageable age in this northern state. Among the neighbouring states, sex ratio of Punjab is a poor 893 though Himachal Pradesh is impressive with 974.

With the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act being enforced strictly and the state being watched closely, optimists insist that things could improve say after 10-15 years. But experts and gender analysts say that it could take at least 50 years to make up for the loss and maintain a gender balance and that too only when things continue to improve each passing month and year.

http://dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/45555-bride-for-a-price-.html

Lifeline roads: Time to get out of narrow lane

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

Last week, I was travelling and the brief holiday took me to Jaipur, Ajmer, Pushkar, Delhi and back to Chandigarh. While the journey from Chandigarh to Jaipur was by train, the rest was covered in the front seat of a Toyota Innova.

As I could not afford a nap fearing that the driver would become drowsy as well, I kept fighting waves of yawns and stared at the countryside -- marvelling at the landscape that changed every few kms. While the food remained the same, every subsequent roadside eatery made me come across a different language and dialect.

Hectic construction was on everywhere and only at a few stretches alongside the highway could one find paddy or mustard fields as the remaining space has been gobbled up by some commercial activity or earmarked for the purpose.

At one place, I found “child bear” being sold. Obviously the painter was barely English-savvy and meant “chilled beer”. Trucks, in front of my vehicle, however, took the cake when it came to slogans.

Most appeared like works of fledgling litterateurs who could not get their works published and, had rather taken to writing slogans on trucks as a career!

Himmat hai to aage nikal, warna bardasht kar (if you are brave enough, overtake me, otherwise tolerate me), warned one with his frightening slogan. My driver was brave enough and overtook the truck without any fuss.

Imagination ran wild in some of the slogans. I thought the owner of one of the trucks or its driver was using abusive language when the slogan at the back said, Teri Ma ki. But, in equally bold letters followed Jai Ho. So the entire slogan was Teri Ma ki jai ho. I had never come across such a slogan anywhere.

Another slogan said, Amiro ki zindagi biscuit aur cake par, driver ki zindagi clutch aur brake par. There were hundreds more. Tata phir milenge and buri nazar wale tera muh kala seemed to be written on a maximum number of them and sort of a national slogan of the big Indian beast that were the trucks with number plates identifying vehicles from far and wide including Orissa, West Bengal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab to Gujarat, Maharashtra and Kerala.

One fuel station on NH-8 was giving a bathing soap free for every 100 litres of diesel and the limit was 400 litres. Half a dozen trucks and their drivers lazing around early morning in the vicinity of the fuel station indicated that the marketing strategy indeed worked.

But what perplexed me the most was the fact that the National Highways were perpetually under construction everywhere. At most of the places they were being six-laned. When I visited Jaipur from Delhi a year ago, a similar construction was on. When the new millennium dawned, 12 years ago and I went to Jaipur, the NHAI was four-laning the road.

Traffic on NH-8 which goes from Delhi to Mumbai through the commercial centres of Gujarat, was being diverted through slip lanes, sometimes making driving extremely difficult. At some places beyond Ajmer, there was barely a lane left for drivers as the remaining part was under construction.

I wondered whether construction and widening would be a permanent feature of the roads of the country. Not long back, these roads were four-laned, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister and gave a new thrust to road infrastructure in the country. Now it is being six-laned. Half a decade from now, the need would be felt for eight-laned roads and maybe 15-20 years from now, the volume of traffic would force the authorities to have 20-laned roads.

I don’t understand what prevents the authorities from constructing 12-lane roads straightway keeping in view the traffic scenario of 2025. It does not require rocket science technology to know that the number of vehicles on roads keep increasing everyday and they need space to move. I am sure after the six-laning of NH-8 is complete, no one knows the deadline, need would again be felt for eight-laning and then 10-laning. There would be construction activity going on all the time and we would hardly find a 200-250 km of expressway free from any construction or broadening activity.

The NH-1 is no better. Frequent travellers on this route from Delhi to Amritsar or Chandigarh would vouch for the fact that this road remains under construction most of the time. While the road from Delhi to Panipat has been six-laned, the road from there to Jalandhar is still under construction. Not surprisingly, there are diversions galore all the way. After the work is complete, more vehicles would be added and a need would be felt to widen the road further.

The Ambala-Zirakpur (Chandigarh) stretch was four-laned only recently and already a need is being felt to widen it with multi-storied housing complexes coming in the vicinity of the Capital and accompanying vehicles clogging the road. Balwant Singh, the taxi driver who drove me from Jaipur to Chandigarh and has been in this business for the last two decades, aptly said that he had never seen the Amritsar-Delhi or the Chandigarh-Delhi stretch free from construction.

Another highway which is always under construction is the Zirakpur-Parwanoo National Highway. Just after you cross Panchkula on the expressway, you have construction and diversion going on. At one place, construction is for the toll collection plaza, at other, road is being widened. Despite several promises and deadlines, the newly built four-lane road on the hills to Parwanoo is still not operational. Hopefully, the authorities would show some vision of looking at the traffic scenario 20 years from now and take appropriate action and not just knee-jerk reaction of broadening the road every 3-4 years. (19.2.2012)

(The writer is Senior Editor, The Pioneer, Chandigarh)

http://dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/43727-view-point.html

Punjab and UP to shape political roadmap

After elections in Punjab and Uttarakhand, the spotlight has shifted to Uttar Pradesh which is currently in the midst of its most important election in recent years. Like Punjab, the outcome in UP too has the potential to make or break a few careers and shape the political roadmap for the general elections of 2014.

Let us take Punjab first where at the moment there is a lull before the storm. The results would be out on March 6, exactly 37 days after polling on January 30. All the key political players are working on different set of possibilities and accompanying permutations and combinations which could emerge after the results.

While Congress is jubilant, leaders have been partying expecting a win and already MLAs and would be MLAs have started jostling for possible Cabinet berths; Akali Dal is behaving more like a seasoned political party which has gone through the exercise so many times. It is, nevertheless, equally hopeful of a victory and party leaders are discussing the agenda and roadmap for the next few months.

Punjab Congress President Captain Amarinder Singh has indicated that this could be his last election. A win here and the Captain could be counted as the mascot of the party but a defeat would lead to a silent exit from active political scene. I am not sure that he would like to become the Leader of Opposition if the party, which he led during the polls, emerges with the runners-up trophy in the poll battle.

Taking a break from Congress tradition where chief ministers are not announced before the polls, Amarinder was named as the party’s choice for the top job by none other than Rahul Gandhi. This has led to heartburn amongst the 3-4 contenders but they showed unity as the party was smelling power and expected to do well. Due to the bickering in the state unit for long time, the high command bought peace two years ago when it named Amarinder as the PCC chief and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal as the Leader of Opposition. For Congress, power is a great glue which keeps different leaders together but when out of power, it is a different ballgame altogether.

If the party wins, things would work out smoothly but if it is out of power again for next five years, I am sure there would be a clamour for Amarinder’s head and demand would be raised to fix accountability. Post defeat, there could well be a new seat of leaders emerging in Punjab.

For the Akali Dal, this is definitely the last election of the veteran Parkash Singh Badal, looking for the fifth term as chief minister of the state. He has already delegated a larger part of the responsibility which he shouldered over the years to his son Sukhbir Singh Badal, who calls the shots in the party as the President.

If SAD is voted back to power, which will be a unique feat in the sense that no party has been repeated in Punjab post its reorganization in 1966, the arrangement would continue- senior Badal as CM and Sukhbir as Deputy CM and the President of the Akali Dal. But if SAD loses, it would definitely be curtains for the political career of the chief minister. The senior Badal would not like to take the position of Leader of Opposition in the state assembly like arch rival Amarinder Singh. He is 84-year old and would definitely delegate it to Sukhbir and would assume the role of an elder statesman in the party. More so because the position of Leader of Opposition would help Sukhbir carve a separate niche in state politics.

At a national level, the victory of SAD-BJP would give a fillip to NDA’s preparation for the 2014 elections and it would be a feather in the cap where NDA can claim that the state governments run by it have always been voted on the basis of performance. It can cite Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Gujarat – states where NDA governments have been repeated.

In Uttar Pradesh, it is Rahul Gandhi whose popularity is at stake. The scion of the Gandhi family and the crown prince has already addressed almost 150 meetings so far and if the result is not commensurate with the hype he has created, his claim for the top job of prime minister post 2014 general elections would be under cloud. If Congress does not emerge as a kingmaker in the largest state of the country, the road to 2014 would not be easy with obstacles all around.

UP observers and analysts are already talking of a hung assembly and the possibility of Samajwadi Party and Congress coming close both in the state and the Centre. In such a scenario, while UPA in the Centre would get a stable ally in place of perpetual “troublemaker” Mamata Banerjee, SP too would lap up the opportunity of Cabinet berths in the Centre apart from power in Lucknow.

But if BSP does well then this entire arithmetic would go for a toss. Traditionally, the pollsters and analysts have failed to properly assess the chances of BSP as they hardly reach the core vote bank of the party. There was hardly anyone who had predicted that Mayawati would come to power on her own in the 2007 polls. Though BJP is not inclined to come to the rescue of BSP if the party gets short of the magic number but in the churning of political forces, nothing can be ruled out.

So March 6 could well determine the way political forces are moving and in which direction. The 2014 polls would be a little over 2 years from the day the results are announced and obviously all the parties would learn their lessons in the assembly polls.

There are some more state assembly elections scheduled in the run-up to the 2014 polls. Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh would go to polls later this year in December while Karnataka would go to polls in May 2013. This would be followed by elections in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhatisgarh in December 2013.

But the results of Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh would clearly set the ball rolling and point to the broader trend of what the people have in mind. A win for BJP in Uttarakhand and NDA in Punjab alongwith an improved performance in Uttar Pradesh would give it the due momentum for the bigger battle ahead and embolden the opposition to go for the kill. Congress too would be hoping that electoral victory helps it in mitigating the problems confronting it in recent times – 2G scandal, Commonwealth Games, adverse court judgments, policy paralysis and also Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare.

(The writer is Senior Editor, The Pioneer, Chandigarh)

http://dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/41948-punjab-and-up-to-shape-political-roadmap.html

(February 12, 2012)

For fair polls Ensure CEC remains ever neutral

Over a decade back, the Election Commission robbed Assembly and parliamentary elections of its colour and excitement. Flags, buntings, wall paintings, graffiti, posters, colourful processions and a general festival like atmosphere gripped the state going to polls then. A visit to the poll bound states and you came face to face with festive atmosphere of democracy – one in which everyone soaked and enjoyed.

That is no longer the case now. Polls now have practically become a door to door campaign and candidates even refuse to serve tea to the people attending the meeting and going to their houses. They refused to attend corner meetings with seating arrangement as every chair, every mike, tent and even the mats were accounted for and clubbed with the expenditure of the candidate.

What is ironical is that this entire exercise, meant to curb expenditure, check black money and bring in austerity, has become counter productive. Expenditure per serious candidate has multiplied many-fold than the ceiling of Rs 16 lakh, fixed by the EC. The candidates and political parties are much more clever and smart than the babus sitting in Nirvachan Sadan, New Delhi and their representatives in the states. Tea is certainly not served to the supporter when the candidates are around, but there is a feast soon after with liquor and choicest from an elaborate menu available for the workers and supporters of wealthy candidates. This is obviously not clubbed with the expenditure of the candidate concerned as he or she is not around near the venue of the feast.

In several constituencies, the voters got “gifts” which could range from kitchen utilities and utensils to sports kits, blankets, liquor bottles and whatever the demand was from the “bulk” voters. I know of families in Punjab who got gift items depending on the number of voters they had in the family. Then there were Pradhan (head) of a small community or a slum area in a city who commanded 100 votes. They got whatever they asked for.

So the austerity of the EC went for a toss and has no meaning at all as the candidates found new mechanism to circumvent the directions of the election body. Any amount of video recording the activities of candidates would not find how the gifts were distributed and how money changed hands. In Punjab, EC got around Rs 35 crore of unaccounted money after the model code of conduct was announced. If senior officials serving in the state are to be believed, the amount floating during the election and used was at least 100 times more than this figure.

The question is why carry the façade of so called austerity measures and curbing of black money when you simply cannot implement it on the ground. Wouldn’t it be better if new guidelines are evolved in consultation with all political parties to make the elections more colourful as was the case in the past and also prevent extravagance on part of the candidates. Everyone in the country knows that no one would become an MLA for the sake of Rs 75,000 or 1 lakh per month which they get in salary. The stakes for a MLA is obviously much higher – either in terms of social status it brings or the future earning it promises.

Then comes the neutrality of the EC. The constitutional body was made famous by T N Seshan so much so that every child in the country knew the name of Seshan when he was the Chief Election Commissioner in the 1990s. Not that there were no good CECs before that but the way Seshan cracked the whip and earned middle class applause, had never happened before.

But fast forward the Seshan era to 2012 and again in the cloak of neutrality, bias in favour of the ruling party at the Centre has returned back to Nirvachan Sadan, something which was in practice for greater part of the period before Seshan and also later.

I can’t understand how wrapping the statues of elephants in UP in a “neutral” colour could be the part of the mandate of the EC. Why didn’t the EC capture all the elephants in UP and elsewhere and keep it in a special enclosure till the election process got over. Why not wrap the hands of all the people in a cloth as it can be shown as a symbol of the Congress? Also, Lotus is found in ponds everywhere. Couldn’t there be a scientific mechanism to destroy all of them when the model code of conduct is in force as it could inspire people to vote for the BJP. Similarly, sickle and hammer of CPI(M) could have been snatched from all farmers and workers and people riding bicycles banned from the streets as it us the symbol of Samajwadi Party.

EC is supposed to be the “neutral umpire” in elections. But in all the three major poll-bound states, its decisions irked the ruling parties and brought smile on the faces of Congress leaders and workers. Akali Dal-BJP coalition in Punjab protested the way EC went about conducting elections in the state and so did Bahujan Samaj Party and its chief Mayawati in UP and BJP’s General B C Khanduri in Uttarakhand. Shouldn’t it be a matter of introspection for this constitutional body?

But then, Congress wants to perform well in UP as the political stake of Rahul Gandhi is involved. It also wants to return to power in Punjab and Uttarakhand so that Rahul’s claim for the top job of Prime Minister in 2014 sounds logical to the people. In such a situation, the EC did what it thought fit. It wants to help the party at the Centre in whatever limited way it can.

CEC S Y Qureshi retires in July after completion of 65 years of age. He would obviously be adjusted somewhere in government and could also try his hand in politics like one of his predecessor M S Gill did. As the founding fathers of the Constitution did not put a clause that the outgoing CEC cannot become a MP or a minister after retirement, Gill managed to become a Cabinet minister and a Rajya Sabha MP throwing the cloak of neutrality and suggesting that he must have done something for the ruling party when he was the head of the Election Commission. He set a wrong precedent with the blessings of Congress and if Qureshi eyes for a similar slot, post retirement, it should not be a surprise.

I don’t know Qureshi personally. It was at the annual Monsoon lunch at the residence of Union Minister Salman Khurshid that I introduced myself to him and shook hand though he may not remember it. That was in 2009 when Qureshi was merely an Election Commissioner. The gathering was there to savour the kebabas and mangoes. Qureshi had a mouthful and so did I. At that point of time, I felt Qureshi was out of place there. I was there to meet politicians who turn up, Qureshi, it seemed was there only for networking and Khurshid being an important minister, could help.

If judges of the Supreme Court cannot become MPs and ministers, why should the CECs become one or aspire for political position. It was time this anomaly was rectified. (February 5, 2012)

(The writer is Senior Editor, The Pioneer, Chandigarh)

http://dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/40248-for-fair-polls-ensure-cec-remains-ever-neutral.html

UP’s month-long vote paralyses Punjab, Uttarakhand Govts

Amitabh Shukla / Chandigarh

Election Commission has forced Punjab and Uttarakhand into an administrative paralysis where no decision can be taken nor implemented as Model Code of Conduct is still in force and would continue to be so for over a month.

“This is the first time that in my memory that I have seen such a huge gap between polling and the result. We are whiling away time by watching TV in our offices,” said a senior Punjab bureaucrat.

He is not the only one. Senior officials say that it’s a complete travesty of the democratic process where no one knows who is ruling the state – the chief minister, Governor, Chief Electoral Officer or the Chief Election Commissioner from New Delhi.

“This was clearly avoidable. Even if elections had been held in Punjab or Uttarakhand on March 3, results could have been announced on March 6, as is scheduled now. What is the point in paralysing the state administration for as long as 37 days after the polls,” asked a senior official.

EC officials in New Delhi and Chandigarh have their reasons for an early date but it’s hardly convincing. They don’t want to be quoted but cite the procedure for deciding the election dates - consultations with the political parties, movement of paramilitary force from one state to the other poll bound states, weather, past practice, tenure of the House, administrative convenience, school examinations, holidays, festivals etc.

Sources in Akali Dal said that the party was taken by surprise when January 30 was announced as polling date as it was expecting a date between February 10 and February 15 given the fact that the last two assembly elections in 2007 and 2002 were held on February 13. Even in 1997, the polls were held on February 7 and results announced two days later on February 9, 1997.

In 2007, after polling on February 13, results were announced in 14 days on February 27. While 2002 Assembly polls were also held on February 13, results were announced on February 24.

Asked about the prolonged spell of Model Code of Conduct, Chief Electoral Officer of Punjab, Kusumjit Sidhu told The Pioneer that she has apprised the Election Commission about the situation and awaiting further instructions.

Apart from Punjab, Uttarakhand too faces the same problem and this was the first time in the history of the Hill state that polls were held in the peak of winters. After the state was formed, two assembly elections have been held – in 2002 and 2007 and in both polls were held in February and there was very little gap between polling date and the result announcement.

In 2002, polls in Uttarakhand were held on February 14 and results announced ten days later on February 24. Similarly in 2007, polls were held on February 21 and results announced six days later on Feb 27.

“The CM has not yet asked us to approach EC for relaxation of the model code of conduct. If he asks us, the request will be immediately forwarded to the EC,” said Punjab Chief Secretary, SC Agarwal. He said the state government cannot take policy decisions and cannot transfer officials during this period. Though the CM is “functional” as care-taker, he can only make decisions and pass orders if problems relate to law and order and natural calamity.

What has compounded the woes of Punjab is the shifting of 35 Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officers from the state as election observers in the other four states - Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Goa and Uttrakhand. This has severely affected administration with nothing being done for the last almost a month. They will continue to be deputed as election officials till the polling results are out, said Agrawal.

Ruling Akali Dal in Punjab has not openly come out against the timing of the polls in January but BJP in Uttarakhand had protested against polls being held in the peak of Winter. Akali Dal, nevertheless, registered its protest against the EC for overlooking complaints against Congress and transferring officials.

A section of Akali leadership allege that Chief Election Commissioner could be having political ambitions as Congress had earlier rewarded M S Gill, another chief Election Commissioner with a Rajya Sabha nomination and a Cabinet berth.

“They (Congress) have set an unhealthy precedent where a former CEC was rewarded. All CECs would now take inspiration and would be biased towards the party ruling at the Centre,” said a BJP leader here. (4.2.2012)

http://dailypioneer.com/pioneer-news/todays-newspaper/40037-ups-month-long-vote-paralyses-punjab-uttarakhand-govts.html

http://dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/39990-ups-month-long-vote-paralyses-punjab-uttarakhand-govts.html

Punjab: EC has fresh turnout figures; an amazing 78.67% voted!

Amitabh Shukla / Chandigarh

The unprecedented turnout in the Punjab Assembly elections, the highest in the history of the state, has stunned the political parties here with a guessing game on over the beneficiaries of the high turnout.

As the Election Commission tabulated the data from the constituencies on Tuesday, the polling percentage surged to a high of 78.67 per cent, a unique figure which the poll officials too found slightly above their expectation. On the day of polling on Monday, EC had estimated the figure to be 76.63. After the additional details came in, the figure rose by 2 per cent.

What is remarkable this time is the clear urban-rural divide in polling. The percentage was quite high in the rural areas and it reached a high of almost 90 per cent in a couple of segments, the urban centres saw relatively poor turnout. Over 40 constituencies, most of them in rural belts, recorded over 80 per cent polling.

While the figure was almost 90 per cent in rural belts like Gur Har Sahai (89.88), Gidderbaha (88.73) and Lambi (87.29) it was around 64 per cent in the five constituencies of Amritsar city with Amritsar (west) recording the lowest at 57.59 per cent. While most of the rural constituencies recorded over 80 per cent votes, the urban polling percentage was at least 12 notches lower.

Traditionally, the rural areas of the state have been the forte of the Akali Dal. The land owning Jats, who comprise around 21 per cent of the population but as per one estimate control almost 70 per cent of the agricultural land, have been the traditional voters of SAD.

Not that the Congress does not get votes in the rural areas but its stronghold remain the marginal farmers, landless, dalits and also the urban population. BJP is primarily an urban based party and it contests mainly the urban seats, mostly the district headquarters.

Akali Dal supporters argue that whenever the poll percentage was high, they along with the BJP formed the government. They cite the examples of the 2007 polls when the figure was slightly more than 75 per cent and 1997 when it was around 69 per cent. When Congress formed the government in the state in 2002, poll percentage was around 65 per cent. In 1992, the Akali Dal had boycotted the elections and the poll percentage was down to 24 and Congress won without contest on most of the seats. Congress supporters rubbish the claim saying the high turnout was due to the “anger of the voters” against the ruling party. (1.2.2012)

http://dailypioneer.com/nation/39291-ec-has-fresh-turnout-figures-an-amazing-7867-voted.html

http://dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/39295-poll-percentage-surges-further-7867-per-cent-in-state.html