Poll-arized Gujarat

• Muslims and Hindus stood in separate lines at many polling booths in Modassa and Himmatnagar. This split was seen both in the ‘Men’ and ‘Women’ lines.

• In Kidiyad, in Sabarkantha district, where 75 people were said to have been burnt alive in the post-Godhra riots, only one Muslim resident turned up to vote.

• In Sardarpura in Mehsana, where 33 people died, none of the Muslims from Sheikhpura came to vote.

• In Ellisbridge, Maninagar, Rakhial, Naroda and Sabarmati constituencies, BJP polling agents were carrying lists with Muslim names deleted with white ink.

• Voters in Rajkot, Junagadh and Jamnagar in Saurashtra were appealing that Hindus should vote against the appeal issued by All India Muslim Ulema Council.

• Both Hindus and Muslims avoided going to polling agents outside booths of either parties if the person sitting there seemed to be from a different party.

• At the Industrial Training Centre in Modassa, Muslims preferred to get their names verified not at the Congress table but with an old man of their community who sat with a similar list beside.

Voting in several constituencies echoed Narendra Modi’s Hindutva campaign. Voters in Dhandhuka said that they agreed with Modi as the BJP being the protector of Hindus and voted enmasse for the party. Similarly in Sarkhej, which comprises some of the posh areas of Ahmedabad city like Satellite and Vastrapur, the chorus was that Modi was a ‘‘Hindu hero.’’

The heavy voting in parts of Saurashtra, North Gujarat and Central Gujarat indicated that the ‘‘appeal’’ issued by the All India Muslim Ulema Council that Muslims should vote for Congress backfired against the party. Hindu voters turned out in large numbers, even leaving marriage functions, just to counter the appeal and vote against it.

A jubilant Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries and BJP MP from Rajkot Vallabhbhai Kathiria who accompanied former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel said: ‘‘The ‘fatwa’ has worked in our favour because people discussed it for two days before the polls and turned out in large numbers to vote. We have definitely benefited from it.’’

But communal tension outside the booths was largely kept in check by security forces who were present in large numbers every where.

Two presiding officers sufferred heart attacks and died on duty: Roop Singh, a presiding officer at Kharwasa booth in Bardoli constituency in south Gujarat and Tulsidas Yadav, presiding officer at Motapaldi booth in Mehsana. And two presiding officers in booth numbers 150 and 151 in Kalol were withdrawn by the EC for allegedly showing a ‘‘partisan’’ attitude.

Repoll may be ordered in six booths in Morbi, Anand, Surendranagar, Dholka and Waghdod constituencies by the Election Commission where polling was disrupted either by stray incidents of violence or due to technical faults in electronic voting machines.

Thousands of voters in at least 75 constituencies had to return back from polling booths as their names were missing from the voters’ lists although they carried voter identity cards. In Naroda Patiya, which was the centre of attraction, 82 residents did not find their names in the voters’ list.

There were angry protests by voters and BJP workers in Shahpur, Maninagar and Ellisbridge who alleged their names were delibrately deleted from the lists—a charge that the Chief Election Commissioner dismissed as ‘‘biased.’’

TV crew and English print journalists bore the brunt of angry voters. In Maninagar, windshields of several ‘Press’ vehicles were smashed, while journalists were roughed up in Godhra.

In South Gujarat, there was a large turnout in the minority-dominated areas. Surat recorded an 80% Muslim turnout, according to Election Commission.

Curfew was clamped in Jambusar town in Bharuch district after rioting by mobs outside a polling booth. Security personnel fired 15 rounds and burst nine teargas shells but no one was injured.

In Central Gujarat, polling was brisk but the communally sensitive Kheda and Anand districts were peaceful. In North Gujarat, voting on communal polarisation was at its peak in Sabarkantha, Mehsana, Ahmedabad and Patan districts.

In Ahmedabad, there was tension in Maninagar constituency when at least 5,000 voters did not find their names in the voters’ lists. Modi who is contesting from Maninagar got on top of his Toyota Qualis and pacified the crowds saying he could not do anything and they should go home.

In Saurashtra, apart from a few stray incidents, no major incident was reported. At Jetpur, a countrymade bomb was found at Bosamiya College at around 12 noon causing panic among voters. Rajkot Rural police defused the bomb.