Municipal election: Indore records 63% turnout

Polling was by and large peaceful in the corporation election in which around 63% exercised their franchise. Though the voting percentage was 4% higher than previous corporation election, it was less compared to the last Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

Polling was by and large peaceful in the corporation election in which around 63% exercised their franchise.

Voters-stand-in-queue-at-the-polling-booth-in-Khajrana-area-in-Indore-on-Saturday-Shankar-Mourya-HT-photo

Though the voting percentage was 4% higher than previous corporation election, it was less compared to the last Assembly and Lok Sabha elections where 69% and 63.98% voters had exercised their franchise.

District returning officer and collector Akash Tripathi said that there has been a general trend that the voting percentage is less in local body elections when compared to the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. He said that the exact voting percentage would be known only by Saturday midnight as all the EVM machines were reaching Nehru stadium.

There was a face-off between the Congress and BJP workers in the afternoon in Ward no 73, Saifi Nagar area where each party accused the other of indulging in fake voting.

Senior police officials also rushed to the spot soon after the incident and used mild cane charge to disperse the crowd that had gathered there.

Congress candidate Sadiq Khan alleged that BJP candidate Hyder Ali was indulging in fake voting and that they had caught two people, but the police let them off.

However, IDA chairman and BJP leader Shankar Lalwani said that Congress was spreading rumours to create panic and affect voting in the area.SDM Varadmurti Mishra denied that there was any fake voting in the area.

Earlier in the day there was a small brawl between supporters of Congress and BJP before the start of polling. There were also reports of minor fights in Sadar Bazaar area and allegations of fake voting in Madina Nagar by the independent candidate Firdoz Patel.

Voting started in a slow pace in the morning, mainly due to chilly weather condition, but picked up in the afternoon and there was a rush to the polling booths just before the polling ended at 5 pm. There was enthusiasm among the voters mainly in the minority dominated areas.

During the course of polling 18 EVMs malfunctioned. In some cases the ballot unit malfunctioned and in some others it was the controlling unit.

All of them were replaced almost immediately, and did not affect voting.