Kashmiris have little stomach for poll

Kashmiri voters wait for a soldier to allow them into a polling booth

BARAMULLA, Kashmir -- A voting machine in one of Kashmir's most sensitive areas lies in the center of the room with no pretence of allowing voters privacy.

After all, what is the point? "One vote there, one vote here, no need for secrecy," shrugs an overseer in Baramulla's Old Town, a bastion of the boycott call by separatist parties opposed to the state election.

The official's figures are meant literally. More than two-thirds of the way through polling day, two machines -- the second protected with a makeshift cardboard cover -- in the small, bare room have recorded one vote each.

And with armed militant groups targeting everyone involved in the election process, presiding officer Bhopal Singh -- a Hindu civil servant on deputation from Uttar Pradesh -- looks very, very uncomfortable to be here.

Unable to move about freely to get provisions since arriving, Singh has food as well as security on the brain.

EXTRA INFORMATION Kashmir votes under shadow of fear    CNN NewsPass VIDEO Indian authorities arrest a group of militants and confiscate weapons on the eve of elections in Indian-controlled Kashmir Play video   MORE STORIES Dangers of the Kashmir standoff    MARK TULLY India's electoral process in question  • Tully's India archive >>    EXTRA INFORMATION In-Depth: Conflict in Kashmir    RESOURCES Infographic: India and Pakistan missile range  Infographic: Maps and military     CNN.com Asia More news from our Asia edition

"We are hungry, hungry people. The government has made no provision and we have not eaten for three days," he complains.

Just outside the empty center teacher Naseer Ahmed fully supports the boycott and says that it the future status of the area that should have been put to the vote.

"This election is meant only for the government, not for the resolution of Jammu and Kashmir," he says.

A crowd quickly gathers to join him in cries of "No election, no selection, we want freedom."

Altogether when votes are tallied in the constituency -- 50 kilometers from state capital Srinagar -- it is to show a 25 percent turnout, compared to 43 percent across all districts in the first round of polling.

Fear as well as the boycott has kept people away.

Two candidates have been killed in the lead-up to the voting and on Sunday the state's tourism minister narrowly escaped an assassination attempt that killed two of her security personnel.

Businessman Nazir Ahmad chose to spend the day at home with his large joint family on the outskirts of town.

Stories and advertisements in newspapers threatening violence against people who chose to vote -- and, he admits, a certain measure of indifference -- have discouraged a trip to the polling booth.

On the other hand, Ahmad says that army personnel have suggested in recent days that they would "like to see ink on people's thumbs," although he adds that he has not heard of people being physically compelled to vote as was widely reported during the last poll in 1996.

Fifty kilometers further away the atmosphere is quite different in Uri, an area within sight of Pakistani-controlled territory and often subject to exchanges of fire between the two countries.

Despite widespread fears to the contrary all is quiet on the first of four polling days. "They know observers are watching," laughs Brigadier Ramesh Halgali.

Economics not politics

While there does not appear to be any great enthusiasm for the candidates on offer, a steady flow of people in the surrounding areas express a desire to at least exercise their franchise.

"Someone has to form the government and vote," shrugs farmer Fatah Mohad who has walked two kilometers to be here. "I have not benefited in the last 50 years from this process and I want my representative to do better."

Again and again it is economics rather than politics that is mentioned.

In the village of Bandy, Abdul Karim having just cast his ballot says that every time candidates makes promises to improve employment figures in the region, "but nothing has been done."

Gurjan Devi, who has three sons without fulltime jobs, agrees. "Jobs is the most important ... we are used to the shelling and have nowhere else to go."

Indeed weighing the family's economic future she make the other villagers on the bus laugh by adding: "Sometimes not even death is so bad."