E-Paper
Ghazipur by-poll peaceful
THE BY-ELECTION in Mohammadabad Assembly constituency in Ghazipur district passed off peacefully amid unprecedented security and there were no reports of any untoward incident from any part of the district. The constituency recorded 46 per cent polling till 5 pm when the election process came to a close. Lack of interest among voters was visible in the initial hours of polling due to which some polling booths wore a deserted look for some time. However, as time passed, a large number of voters ventured out to exercise their franchise.
THE BY-ELECTION in Mohammadabad Assembly constituency in Ghazipur district passed off peacefully amid unprecedented security and there were no reports of any untoward incident from any part of the district.
The constituency recorded 46 per cent polling till 5 pm when the election process came to a close.
Lack of interest among voters was visible in the initial hours of polling due to which some polling booths wore a deserted look for some time. However, as time passed, a large number of voters ventured out to exercise their franchise.
There were reports that CRPF personnel took control of almost all the polling booths, which instilled confidence among the voters.
The CRPF personnel reportedly preferred to keep the civil police at bay at the sensitive and hyper-sensitive polling booths.
The Election Commission had arranged for videography and photography of the voters who failed to bring along their voter identity cards.
The political fate of all 13 candidates in the fray was sealed in the electronic voting machines (EVMs), which will be opened on February 19 for counting.
Prominent among the candidates in the fray included Alka Rai of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Sri Krishen of the Samajwadi Party, Keshav Ram of the Congress and Bhagelu Patil of the Apna Dal.
There was unprecedented security in the entire constituency with Central security forces, mostly the CRPF, taking out a flag march in the constituency as a precautionary measure.
Though outsiders were not permitted in the area where polling took place, some ruling party ministers were reported to be present in the constituency. There were also reports that they remained in the house of a “controversial politician” in Mohammadabad.
Massive security was made in and around all 271 polling booths. The administration had appointed three super zonal magistrates, six zonal magistrates and 30 sector magistrates for polling.
It may be mentioned that the Mohammadabad seat fell vacant following the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai and his seven aides on November 29 in Ghazipur.
“There is absolutely no report of any untoward incident from any part of the constituency during polling and the entire exercise went on smoothly,” IG, Varanasi, KL Meena told HT on telephone.
