At the end of the polling on Thursday in the first phase of the general elections, the Ghaziabad parliamentary constituency witnessed an estimated 57.6% voter turnout, according to district administration officials, the lowest of the eight western Uttar Pradesh constituencies which went to the polls in the phase.
The turnout is only marginally higher as compared to the 2014 general elections, which had a 56.94% turnout.
According to data from the Ghaziabad district administration, polling began on a low note and stood at 11.5% at 9am on Thursday. During the successive two-hour intervals, the polling rose to 23.5%, 35.78%, and 47.48%, and stood at 53.64% till 5pm.
“The weather was hot and clear. People initially voted during the morning hours, and by afternoon they kept coming to vote, but in small groups. The polling rate picked up again after 4pm. Some of the booths in rural areas wore a deserted look during the afternoon,” Mohan Sangwan, a social activist from Indirapuram, said.
Saharanpur constituency had the highest turnout in the region, with 70.68% polling.
According to the provisional figures till 5pm, the rural segments of Dhaulana (61.1%) and Muradnagar (53.42%) were the top two segments while the Ghaziabad segment was the only one which secured less than 50% polling in the constituency.
{{/usCountry}}According to the provisional figures till 5pm, the rural segments of Dhaulana (61.1%) and Muradnagar (53.42%) were the top two segments while the Ghaziabad segment was the only one which secured less than 50% polling in the constituency.
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Ghaziabad parliamentary constituency had nearly 27,28,084 voters in five segments — Loni, Muradnagar, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad and Dhaulana. The Sahibabad segment is the biggest, with 9,49,322 voters and is a primarily urban segment.
During the 2014 general elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate General (retd) VK Singh secured a record win by a margin of 5,67,260 votes. This time, he is pitted against Congress’ Dolly Sharma and Suresh Bansal who is contesting on a Samajwadi Party (SP) ticket with support from alliance partners the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has extended its support to Bansal.
District officials said there were several complaints from booths in Dhaulana, Sahibabad, Loni and Ghaziabad where polling equipment had to be changed or repaired.
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“We came across cases where people had already cast a vote for somebody and the actual voter could not vote. There was also an instance where only one out of five members of a family could vote. We observed that there were discrepancies in the voters’ list,” Dolly Sharma, Congress candidate, said.
Singh also claimed that he came across similar issues.
“A lot of people have their names in the list, but the word ‘deleted’ is written against their names. What I was told is that in September 2018, officials did a summary revision and somehow ‘deleted’ was written across some names. So, as per the rules, these people could not vote. We request the Election Commission (EC) to do a verification and see if a repoll can be done for these voters,” Gen Singh said.
District election officer Ritu Maheshwari said the district’s provision polling percentage was approximately 58.2%.
“The figure can change a bit and will be finalised by Friday. The figure of 57.6% is for the district. The final calculations are ongoing and could be on the higher side. We came across complaints regarding the electoral rolls and these were resolved. For other issues, we will inquire once we receive complaints. There were issues with EVMs and equipment but they were either repaired or replaced,” she added.