CHANDIGARH, Sept 5: Amidst stray incidents of minor clashes and frayed tempers between the Congress and BJP workers, polling in the city passed off peacefully, albeit with a low voter turnout, for the lone Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat.The voter turnout this time touched an all-time low - with only about 48.51 per cent of the 5.84 lakh voters exercising their franchise with the use of electronic voting machines. In 1998, 53.68 per cent polling was achieved, while 58.41 per cent had cast their votes in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections.With this, the fate of 16 candidates, including BJP nominee K. L. Sharma and Congress nominee Pawan Bansal, has been sealed in the 644 EVMs, counting for which would take place on October 6.With polling over, the main contenders for the seat - Bansal and Sharma, have claimed their victory over the seat with good margin.It being a Sunday, voting started at 7 a.m. on a lacklustre note and picked up only between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., only to decline again due to rains.While only seven per cent of the total voters had exercised their franchise in the first two hours of polling, a total of 19 per cent had cast their votes by 11 a.m., up to 31 per cent till 1 p.m. and the voter turnout touched the 41 per cent mark by 3 p.m.The voter turnout was poor in the urban areas of the city, but voters in the colonies and villages were relatively more in number, though the same was not very high as compared to that during last elections. However, in the slums enthusiastic voters crowded around the polling booths to enjoy the election euphoria.There were minor incidents of clashes between the Congress and the BJP workers reported at Colony No 4 and 5, Sector 25 Kumhar colony, Sector 46, Sector 37 and Burail, with workers even coming to blows at certain places over bogus voting, amidst flared up tempers in an already charged atmosphere.Though the total tendered votes cast could not be ascertained, there were reports of many cases of votes having already cast at various places. Even municipal councillor Raj Kumar Goyal had to go without casting a vote since someone had already cast it in the morning itself.Three persons had been arrested for impersonation, though many were let off after being nabbed, the police also impounded as many as 37 vehicles bearing outside registration numbers which were moving suspiciously.There were also many complaints by voters who were not allowed to cast their votes despite having voter I-cards.Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Lt Gen B. K. N. Chhibber (retd), along with his family members also cast his vote in the booth at Punjab MLA hostel. This is the first time he went to cast a vote at a booth as earlier he had been voting through personal ballots.Fate sealed in 644 EVMsThe 644 EVMs are being placed in the specially made strong rooms at each of the five counting centres. The EVMs have been placed there under tight security cover of para-military forces, after sealing them in their specially-designed attache-cases.The counting centres where the EVMs are kept have been set up at the Government College, Sector 11, Central Polytechnic in Sector 26, College of Education in Sector 20, Government College for girls in sector 42 nd the Sector 46 Government College. Counting at these centres would commence on October 6, and the result is likely to come out in a few hours.
