BELLARY, SEPT 5: The ``Battle of Bellary'' put on display this sleepy town's enthusiasm to participate in the democratic process of elections.Sunday here was festive. People turned out in large numbers to exercise their franchise quite early in the day. By noon, several polling booths recorded over 70 per cent polling, minor complaints - of alleged impersonation - notwithstanding. With two high-profile women contesting this seat, women took the lead in arriving at polling booths. Youngsters - many of them first-time voters - emerged from the booths with a sense of achievement. Showing off the indelible ink on their finger to the below-18-year-olds became something of a favourite pass-time. Two bashful young women Pushpa and Durga, who cast their votes in Parvathi Nagar in Bellary town remembered how they envied others who could vote in the previous (1998) Lok Sabha elections.Bheemamma, a stone-blind woman who lives on the Gonahala road outside Bellary, returned disappointed from her polling booth.Apparently, she had shifted house after the previous election. Her name did not figure in the voter's list of her new area.In Gonahala village, people not only dropped their ballot papers into the ballot box, they also wrote messages in little chits of paper which read: ``Our village does not have water''. This entire village had boycotted the 1998 Lok Sabha elections as they had no access to drinking water. This time, they changed their mind because the BJP promised to set things right.Even in tribal tandas, voter turn-out was on the higher side. Janakunte village's polling booth (where even the tanda's population cast their votes), recorded about 65 - 70 per cent voting by 1 pm.Another feature of the election was the ubiquitous smell of liquor. Nobody tried to hide the fact that they were wooed by one party or the other through monetary incentives or liquor. In Srirampuram area in Bellary, voters said that parties were ``buying'' votes at Rs 20 a piece.Shankar, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)worker from Haveri told this newspaper: ``We cannot do anything in this area. All the votes have been bought. If we try to prevent such things, we will be beaten''.In Shankarabande in Kurugodu Assembly segment, people confused this reporter for a BJP worker. ``Your men are already distributing money, Sir. don't worry, we will win'', an inebriate villager said.At a polling station in Parvathy Nagar, several women gathered in groups some distance from the polling station even after casting their votes. While the BJP workers maintained that the women were waiting to cast proxy votes, the women told a different story. Asked why they did not return to their homes after voting, one woman said: ``We are waiting for our coolie.''. Before she could say anything further, another woman silenced her. The deal between the voters and parties is simple: The parties compensate them for staying away from work (agricultural labour) so that they can come to vote. The compensation is usually a day's wage - about Rs25 to Rs 30.Workers of both parties roamed the city in cars, vans and jeeps inquiring about the progress in each booth. The main purpose was, however, to see of the other party attempts foul-play. Sushma Swaraj was on the move throughout the day, as were the Congress poll managers K C Kondaiah and his followers. Bellary's superintendent of police Prashanth Kumar Thakur, followed by a BSF party, visited polling booths in all areas considered ``sensitive''.
