In the municipal elections, the people of Sangamnagari proved to be the worst in the whole state in terms of voting. Out of total 15 lakh 69 thousand 774 voters, only 4 lakh 94 thousand 471 exercised their franchise in the election of mayor and councillors. This percentage of voting was 31.45. This time 1.13 percent more votes have been cast as compared to the last two civic elections. There was 30.32 percent voting in 2017 civic elections and 27.80 percent in 2012. At the same time, a total of 58.08 percent voting took place in the eight Nagar Panchayats of the district.
In the first phase for the municipal bodies, voting was held in 37 districts on Thursday. A total of 33.61 per cent voting took place in Prayagraj, including municipal corporation and eight panchayats, which was the lowest in the state. The capital Lucknow came second from the bottom in polling percentage. There, a total of 38.62 percent polling was held in Municipal Corporation and Panchayats together. Voting was held at 1180 booths for 354 polling places of Municipal Corporation from 7 am. Initially, there were complaints of EVM malfunction in more than 50 booths.
25 EVMs also had to be changed. Due to this, polling at the respective booths was disrupted for some time. There were complaints of bogus voting at many polling places including Lekhpal Training Center in Kareli. 15 people were also caught. Apart from this, there were also complaints of irregularities in the voter list. However, apart from these complaints the polling was conducted peacefully. Apart from skirmishes at one or two places, there was no report of ruckus anywhere else.
Voting was very slow in the first two hours and only 3.72 per cent polling was recorded till 9 am. Between 11 am and 3 pm, there was a relatively rapid turnout in the day, but after that there was silence again at the booths. The force remained deployed at polling places during polling. Webcasting of the most vulnerable plus 25 booths was also done. Videography was done at 65 booths. Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, DM Sanjay Kumar Khatri and other officers continued to inspect along with the force.
58.08 percent voting in eight panchayats
In eight Nagar Panchayats of Prayagraj, a total of 58.08 percent polling was held for the chairman and members. In this, the highest polling was recorded in Koraon at 68.39 and the lowest in Phulpur at 54.69 percent. Voting in Nagar Panchayats started at seven in the morning with ballot paper. Enthusiasm for voting was shown from morning itself and till 9 o’clock 8.45 per cent polling was done. The turnout increased as the day progressed. More than eight percent polling was recorded in the last one hour itself.
By five o’clock it was 49.93 percent. There, 58.08 polling took place till 6 o’clock. Women remained ahead in the matter of voting in panchayats. The voting percentage of women was 58.42 and that of men was 57.77 percent. 63.96 in Sirsa, 59.99 in Handia, 57.19 in Bharatganj, 55.85 in Shankargarh, 55.25 in Lalgopalganj, 56.96 in Mauaima. After the polling, the EVMs were kept in the strongrooms built in the respective tehsils.
Women left behind men in voting
In the matter of voting in Prayagraj Municipal Corporation, women lagged behind men. The figure of men was two and a half percent more than that of women. The vote percentage of women was 30.01, while that of men was 32.59 percent.
The fight between BJP and SP was visible in the election booths.
In the voting for mayor and councilors held on Thursday, considering the electoral bags as the basis, then the main fight was seen between BJP and SP only. The signs of victory and defeat are also clearly visible from the crowd gathered in the bags. A total of 354 polling stations were set up in the city. People exercised franchise at 1180 booths here. All the major parties in the extended area including City West, City North, City South have set up bags near the polling station for the convenience of the voters. In most of the places, a crowd of supporters was seen only on the BJP and SP’s bastions.
The burden of these bags is not borne by the children, but by the political workers. Political parties had kept bags at all the polling places since 6 am. Party flags were also put up so that voters could understand at which stall they had to come for the slip. BJP and SP had delivered the voter slips to all the voters at their homes a day or two ago.
Mahila Sewa Sadan Inter College, Naveen Mahila Inter College, Jamuna Christian Inter College, Mary Vana Maker, Boys High School, Girls High School, Radharaman, Bishop Johnson, Indian Girls College, Sewa Samiti Inter College, Government Inter College, ML Convent, Thakur in Bairahna Deen Ka Hata, Maharishi Valmiki Inter College, Agrasen Inter College etc polling stations were heavily crowded with people searching for their names in the voter list and getting slips made on the basis of BJP and SP. However, Congress and BSP also appeared strong in some areas.