2002 Assembly Elections in J&K - Free and fair but not without fear

"Although the elections can be said to have been free and fair, they were not without fear. There is one critical issue at stake; the element of fear created by militancy. Threats from, and attacks by militants prevented a large number of voters from exercising their right to franchise. This element of fear undeniably inhibits a voter's right to freedom from intimidation, and restricts their freedom and equal opportunity to vote," disclosed an Independent Observers report, on the J&K Assembly Elections, 2002, by the Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK), Dehradun.

"The EC made commendable efforts to ensure free and fair conduct of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections, 2002 and the appointment of officials from outside the state and the use of EVMs were considered to be successful initiatives," the report revealed. However, it also said, "Discrepancies were present in voter registration, voter slips and awareness programmes on EVMs,"

RLEK had sent a team of 25 persons to Jammu and Kashmir as Independent Observers for the Assembly Elections. This team observed the elections in all the four phases of polling spread over a month-long duration. Findings of this report were made public today, in a press conference at RLEK. On this, occasion Ms. Haripriya Joshi, a member of this team, told reporters that, "this report was being made public before the results of the elections are announced, in order to avoid any accusations of bias against RLEK."

"Proxy voting by women voters dressed in Burquas, who would vote several times was an occurrence in Kashmir. Although there was at least one women officer at every polling station, responsible for the security check of women, there were no women polling officers to confirm the identity of these burqua-clad women," said Jaideep Kaur, another member of the team of Independent observers.

Another area of concern as expressed in the report was the low voter turnout in the Kashmir valley, attributed to the fear of militancy and to the boycott of elections by the people. The report disclosed that some parts of Srinagar district saw almost zero turnouts.

Addressing this press conference, Anmol Jain, Secretary RLEK, said, "RLEK assumed this responsibility of Independent Observers in order to present a correct picture before the national and international community, whether genuine opportunity to use their ballot was provided to the people of J&K."

For the future, the report suggested that the Election Commission should make provisions for identification of women. Female polling officials, responsible for identification, should be deployed at each polling booth. It also recommended the need for EC supporting NGOs for training of voters and also highlighted the need for providing the candidates with some separate funds, for providing voter awareness trainings in EVMs.

The Independent Observers report emphasised that the initiation of dialogue between all regions and all sections of the society alone could lead towards a permanent solution to the Kashmir issue. "However, this should be done by a third party rather than politicians as a significant proportion of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, no longer trust politicians and bureaucrats as they have been betrayed too many times. Instead the matter should be conducted by those who the people have faith in and who understand the situation well," it added.

Maheru Khan, Pallavi Anand, Bindu Kalia, Rajesh Dobhal, Pawan Kumar Bhatta were other members of the team who addressed the press conference and shared their observations.

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