Voting peaceful,helplines have an off-day

Barring stray incidents between party workers in various wards,polling went of peacefully in the 64 wards for the election of 192 councillors to the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.

The turnout from the predominantly Hindu localities was low on account of the garba festivities.

At several places the Congress and the BJP candidates set up their tables near each other without any fuss. In Khokhra ward under the Daxini flyover,the Congress,BJP and an Independent candidate —Pavan Makwana — sat next to each other without much of an argument as voters went over to their preferred sides. But many voters had to be turned away as their names did not figure in the list available with the workers.

In the sensitive Kalupur ward,an incident of eve-teasing led to scuffle between the BJP and Shiv Sena workers. The Kalupur police said former BJP man Bhupendra Khatri who is now with the Shiv Sena,allegedly misbehaved with the wife of BJP candidate Krishnavadan Brahmbhatt which led to a scuffle and the closure of the polling booth for half an hour.

Jt CP Satish Sharma said: “We have the recording of the entire incident. At this stage,we cannot say that the woman has made false allegations,but the eve-teasing incident doesn’t seem to be totally true. Both parties have filed cross-complaints with the police and we are probing the matter further.”

Elsewhere,Congress candidate Surendra Baxi complained that his BJP counterpart Krishnavadan Brahmbhatt had meddled with the election process at Raja Mehta pol. Shahpur also witness heated arguments between BJP and Congress candidates over bogus voting,but the situation was immediately brought under control.

The police said extra personnel from the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) and the city police were posted in the riot-affected areas like Naroda Patia,Naroda Gam and Gulberg Society. The deployment included: 20 companies of SRPF; 7,500 Home Guards; 10 companies of Border Wing besides the usual manpower of the city police. Five DySPs,38 Inspectors,32 Sub-Inspectors,1,500 constables were also called from outside Ahmedabad for security. Helplines find no takers

The new helplines started by Ahmedabad police during the civic polls received only a few calls on Sunday. The helpline no 1095 received one call of a minor scuffle in Odhav and other calls of traffic jams. But no call was made to the helpline number 1096,which was dedicated for emergencies or for other poll-related issues,said a Police Control Room officer.

Saurashtra

Voting picked up momentum in the last couple of hours in Saurashtra. According to preliminary reports,the voting is likely to be around 45 per cent,which is higher than the previous elections of 2005.

Jamnagar is likely to take the lead in Saurashtra with around

50 per cent voting,followed by 45 to 48 per cent in Rajkot and 40 per cent in Bhavnagar. At all three cities,voting was two to four per cent higher than previous elections.

Ward number 7 in Old Rajkot,which has a mixed population of Hindu,Muslim and Dalits,registered the highest voter turn out of 51.98 per cent by 4 pm. The lowest was registered in ward number 1 where voting,before an hour of closing,had touched 28.04 per cent. Among other wards,number 10 and 9 also registered low turn out of 37 and 30 per cent respectively.

Call it the Navratri effect or voter’s apathy,voting at Rajkot,Jamnagar and Bhavnagar began on a low key and continued to be dull even past noon.

On an average 25 per cent voting was observed across three municipal corporations only a couple of hours before polling was about to get over. Rajkot recorded around 29 per cent voter turnout,Jamnagar 22,and Bhavnagar 32 per cent initially. Voting passed off peacefully as the three cities remained under heavy security cover . There were hardly any complaints of non-functioning of EVMs. Baring one bogus voting complaint in Jamnagar,the overall voting process remained hassle free.

In Rajkot,for 69 seats involving 23 wards,voting began with lukewarm response. Between 8 to 10 am,the voter turnout was mere 8.35 per cent. The voter response in the underdeveloped and backward areas — wards 17,21,23 and 9 was better than the educated and posh wards like 10,11,9 and 13.

Rajkot Congress city president Jaswantsinh Bhatti and ward number 11 BJP candidate Pravin Patel reportedly got into heated exchange after the latter raised objection over the former coming to vote wearing a Congress scarf.

At Jamnagar,voting at booth in ward number 15 was interrupted due to a technical snag in an EVM,which was quickly replaced. Following a complaint of bogus voting at Lokdakh booth,a polling staff was relieved from duty.

In Bhavnagar,the voter turnout for the first couple of hours did not cross the 10 per cent mark.

SURAT

Surat witnessed a triangular fight between the BJP,Congress and the Mahagujarat Janta Party(MJP). Voting picked up gradually throughout the day,and remained peaceful except for the occasional skirmishes between the BJP and Shiv Sena.

The voter turnout is expected to be between 40 and 45 per cent — higher than last time.

The election staff deployed at 2,525 polling stations in 38 wards for the 114 seats in Surat were on their toes since 8.00 in the morning.

The residents chose to stay indoors in the morning and came out to vote late. In several polling stations,nobody turned up in the first half hour since morning. Complaints of non-functional EVMs were reported from some polling stations,which were repaired and in some cases,replaced.

In the first quarter of early morning,the voting was registered above 20 per cent,which reached 32.37 per cent till afternoon. Election officials said the voting might be between 40 and 45 percent,adding that the actual figure will come late in the evening.

Rumors of BJP and Congress engaging in verbal duels also did the rounds,but no formal complaints were lodged with the police.

VADODARA

Voting in Vadodara was peaceful barring a couple of minor skirmishes in the Walled City areas. The voter turnout has been projected between 44 and 45 per cent.

With speculations rife over a low voter turnout,both Congress and BJP candidates had a tough time getting an actual feedback of the ground situation.

District Collector Vijay Nehra said: “The complete picture will become clear only after 10 pm,but the tentative voters turnout is somewhere between 44 and 45 per cent which is higher than the last civic polls,which was 42.96 per cent. There were no untoward incidents throughout the day and there were no complaints about faulty EVMs. There were only a few complaints of some voters not finding their names in the voters list.”

He added: “There were speculations about the low voter turnout but it was not so because the number of polling booths had increased and that is why there were no long queues which we generally see during every elections. In fact,the tentative voting percentage is higher than the last civic elections.”

The candidates and senior political leaders were in confusion about the final outcome.

A senior BJP leader said: “We were getting reports from our booth workers and from the members of public about the low voter turn out. We came to know about the tentative voter turnout later.”

Though Nehra denied about any incident,skirmishes were reported in the Mandvi area where groups reportedly clashed after bogus voting was suspected towards the end of the polling.