E-Paper
Chandigarh records 68% turnout as heat takes a toll
Political parties and authorities blamed heatwave conditions and less enthusiasm among voters as the primary reasons behind the drop from 70% polling in 2019 Lok Sabha elections
The final phase of the Lok Sabha election on Saturday saw Chandigarh recording a voter turnout of 68%, marking a drop of 2% compared to the 2019 edition.
Political parties and authorities blamed heatwave conditions and less enthusiasm among voters as the primary reasons behind the fall.
Reeling under heatwave conditions for nearly a week, with mercury remaining four to six degrees above normal, Chandigarh recorded a maximum temperature of 44.5°C, 5.3 degrees above normal.
In the 2019 parliamentary election, 70.6% of electors had voted in Chandigarh, whereas in 2014 elections, the turnout was recorded at 73.7%.
An estimated 6,59,805 voters are enrolled to decide the fate of 19 candidates in the race for the Chandigarh parliamentary seat, including 3,41,544 males, 3,18,226 females and 35 transgenders.
“A total of 4,48,007 voters cast their votes in Chandigarh on Saturday. These figures are provisional as the election office is expected to release the final voter turnout after reconciliation of the data submitted by the polling parties,” said deputy commissioner-cum-district election officer Vinay Pratap Singh, adding that no case of bogus or fake voting was reported in the city.
Singh added, “This year, the national average of voting has also dropped significantly. Heatwave and summer vacations also added up in lowering the voter turnout, despite the election department’s efforts to ensure that people come out and vote. All facilities were in place at the polling stations.”
Voting in the UT began at 7 am at all 614 polling booths, but voters complained of slow polling throughout the day, resulting in long waits in the heat.
Though small incidents of EVM glitches were reported, only one EVM and four VVPAT machines had to be replaced.
“Polling was largely peaceful. A commotion was reported in Dhanas area in the morning due to slow voting where people had turned up in huge numbers. Additional polling staff was deployed at polling stations which had long queues for expediting the polling process. Thereafter, polling went on smoothly,” said Chandigarh’s chief executive officer Vijay Namdeorao Zade.
For the Chandigarh seat, the main contest is between Manish Tewari of the Congress and Sanjay Tandon of the BJP . The Congress and the AAP are jointly fighting this election as partners in the INDIA bloc.
Tandon cast his vote at the Government Girls Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 18, Chandigarh, early in the morning. He was accompanied by his wife, Priya Tandon, and other family members.
Tewari cast his vote at Sacred Heart Convent School in Sarabha Nagar, Ludhiana, at 7 am.He expressed his gratitude to all sections of society in Chandigarh for their support.
Though long queues were witnessed at several polling stations in the morning hours, especially in the colonies, voting slowed down in the afternoon with the city recording 43.5°C at 2.30 pm.
According to the Election Commission, Chandigarh recorded 25% voting till 11 am (in the first four hours since voting began at 7am), but the turnout gradually slowed with 40% polling till 1 pm and 52% polling till 3 pm.
With a western disturbance (WD) active over the region, gusty winds up to 40 km/h blew in the region and the sky also turned cloudy for about an hour around 4 pm. Voters weren’t discouraged and ventured out in greater numbers as 62% voting was recorded till 5 pm even when the maximum temperature was at 41.8°C at 5.30 pm.
“Drinking water, sweetened water, medical kits, oral rehydration solution (ORS) and the likes were arranged at all polling stations, given the prevailing heatwave conditions,” officials said.
