MUMBAI, 18 November 2006 — For the first time in the country, about six million voters will be photographed at polling stations before casting their votes in the civic elections over the weekend in some parts of Maharashtra.
The system is being introduced on an experimental basis in Konkan, Nashik and Aurangabad districts, where elections are to be held tomorrow. Officially, 16,000 candidates are in the fray for elections to 169 municipal bodies in the state.
The state Chief Election Commissioner Nand Lal said photographing voters is aimed at preventing vote fraud. He said photographers hired by the poll officials would be allowed into the polling stations along with a representative of the chief district administrator. Each voter will be photographed before he or she castes their votes.
In another development in the state, the situation in Solapur district was tense but under control yesterday after a group of people protesting the murder of four members of a Dalit (low caste) family at Khairlanji in Bhandara district went on a rampage for the second consecutive day on Thursday. The angry mob of more than 5,000 Dalits were prevented from burning the effigy of state Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister R.R. Patil. They were protesting against his failure to take action against upper caste Hindus who allegedly hacked the family to death.
The mob set fire to six government buses. Traders in many parts of the city closed their shops after the Republican Party of India (Athavale faction) workers blocked a road near the Navi Ves police station.
