Chandigarh municipal corporation elections see 44% turnout till 3pm

Elections to the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh passed off peacefully with 44% voter turnout reported till 3pm on Friday

Elections to the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh passed off peacefully with 44% voter turnout reported till 3pm on Friday.

First-time voters after exercising their franchise in front of the selfie zone set up by the Chandigarh Administration in Sector 32 on Friday. Polling was held peacefully for 35 municipal corporation seats. (Keshav Singh/HT)

Election Commission officials said voting, which began at 7.30am on Friday, was peaceful amid tight security and Covid-19 restrictions for 35 MC seats.

The voting percentage recorded at 3pm was 44%, while it stood at 25% at noon, the poll officials said, adding that it picked up as the day progressed.

It was a slow start in sectors with middle and upper class concentration. However, voting was brisk in colonies and villages on the city’s outskirts, the officials said.

Polling continued till 5pm and counting will take place on December 27.

An estimated 6,33,475 voters, including 3,01,275 women, were eligible to decide the fate of 203 candidates.

Among the high profile residents Chandigarh BJP MP Kirron Kher cast her vote at noon at the Sector 7 polling station. She has specially come from Mumbai, where she is undergoing treatment and recuperating from cancer, to cast her vote. She had skipped the party campaign due to ill-health. Others who cast their vote included former Union minister and Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal and former city BJP chief Sanjay Tandon.

This time the city is witnessing a three-cornered contest with the entry of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the fray from all 35 wards.

In the past, the Congress and the BJP have been the main contenders. A total of 212 polling stations have been set up in different parts of the city. Among the 694 booths, 220 are sensitive.

The number of voters per booth would be around 1,000 this time, 400 less than the 2016 elections, due to the Covid protocol. Officials said all voters are being thermally scanned and masks besides sanitisers have been kept at polling stations.