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Haryana civic polls conclude peacefully amid 54% turnout, results on May 13
At 48%, Sonepat recorded lowest voter turnout among the three municipal corporations that went to polls on Sunday
Despite small skirmish reported at few places, polling for Haryana’s civic bodies, including seven municipal bodies and 528 panchayats, concluded peacefully on Sunday even as relatively lower voter turnout was recorded.
According to the data available with the Haryana state election commission (SEC), state recorded around 54% turnout.
Out of the three municipal corporations (MCs) that went into polls, Sonepat recorded the lowest turnout of 48%. Ambala and Panchkula recorded voter turnouts of 54.3% and 53.4%, respectively. Around 2.96 lakh voters were eligible to vote across 22 wards and 264 polling booths in Sonepat.
Polling for election of mayor and ward councillors in Ambala, Panchkula and Sonepat, president and councillors in the Rewari municipal council, and for presidents and councillors in the municipal committees of Sampla (Rohtak district), Dharuhera (Rewari district), and Uklana (Hisar district) took place on Sunday.
In addition, by-elections were held for one ward each in the municipal councils and municipal committees of Tohana, Jhajjar, Rajound, Taraori, Kanina and Sadhaura.
Voting began at 8 am and continued till 6 pm. The votes will be counted on May 13. Out of the total 8.73 lakh eligible voters for the local bodies, 4.75 lakh exercised their franchise, SEC data showed.
According to SEC data, the municipal committee of Sampla recorded the highest turnout at 79.2%, followed by Uklana with 75.7%, and Dharuhera at 72.4%.
Rewari municipal council recorded around 64.8% polling.
The higher voter turnout in Sampla, which falls under former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s constituency, has left the political observers guessing as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) contested the election on a party symbol. In the absence of a Congress candidate, Hooda had appealed to voters to vote for the candidate capable of defeating BJP.
In Sonepat and Rewari, the BJP and Congress were locked in direct contests. In Sonepat, the fight was between BJP’s Rajiv Jain and Congress candidate Kamal Diwan.
In Uklana, BJP’s Nikita Goel was facing a strong challenge from Independent Rima Soni.
Similarly, the Independents made the contests multi-cornered in several municipal committees, including Sampla and Dharuhera.
In Rewari, tensions prevailed after allegations of bogus voting. Police detained a youth for allegedly attempting to cast a fraudulent vote at a booth in Government Senior Secondary School and started probe.
Similar allegation surfaced in booth of Sonepat’s ward no. 2, where a voter claimed that someone had already voted in his name. The voter alleged that polling officials informed him that his vote had already been recorded.
Similar, allegations were also reported by a voter in Ukalana.
Complaints were also raised regarding inadequate arrangements for elderly voters. In Uklana, family members of an 80-year-old voter alleged that no wheelchair facility was provided and security personnel behaved improperly.
Following the completion of polling, election officials sealed EVMs under tight security arrangements.
In a statement, state election commissioner Devinder Singh Kalyan said that the general and by-elections for municipal corporations, municipal councils, municipal committees, and panchayati raj Institutions were conducted in a peaceful, fair and transparent manner.
“The commission had made all necessary arrangements to ensure the transparency, fairness and credibility of the electoral process. Complaints and objections received were resolved in accordance with rules to ensure that the transparency and credibility of the election process were maintained,” he said.
