About 20 injured in police action on anti-poll demonstrators in J

Bandipora, Nov 17 (UNI) About 20 people were injured when security forces resorted to lathicharge to disperse anti-poll demonstrators here today when people were casting their votes to elect their representative from this Assembly segment.

Official sources said hundreds of people, mostly youths, took to streets at main market and raised pro-freedom and anti-election slogans.

As the demonstrators were moving towards a polling booth, security forces and police resorted to lathicharge to disperse them.

They said about 20 people were injured in police and security force action, who used lathis to disperse them.

However, later in the day polling in all booth was peaceful and moderate to brisk.

Surprisingly the poll boycott impact was not visible in the town, where long queues could be seen outside the polling booths.

At two polling booth set up in Government Higher Secondary Institute, Bandipora, in north Kashmir, an hour before the end of the polling, a large number of voters, including women, were seen waiting for their turn to cast their votes.

In Kaloosa-D, out of 715 voters, 388 had cast their votes while in polling booth-B, out of 899, 378 had cast their votes till this afternoon.

Shops and business establishments in the town remained closed and traffic was also off the roads. Bandipora witnessed first fidayeen attack in late 90s.

UNI BAS PY KN1850