SURAT, Sept 5: People are saying that when Rana is going to win by a margin of four lakh votes, what difference does it make if we vote. Rana is going to win it anyway,'' said Dhirubhai Mangrolia, municipal councillor from Varachha, who spent the entire day trying to get voters to polling booths, but in vain.It seems that the BJP's over-publicised claim that Rana was going to win the Surat Lok Sabha seat with a record margin (the party said the margin would exceed four lakhs) ushered in a complacency both the well-oiled BJP election machinery and the voters. Although the final percentage of votes polled will be made public late at night, BJP office-bearers themselves admitted that the voting per cent in the constituency was between 35 and 37 per cent, more than 10 per cent below last time's percentage.If voting was low, bogus voting was even lower. Four booths at the Civil Supplies godown, eight booths at Sadhna School and four in Ramkrishna Paramhans School - all in the Varachha area - were notorious for bogus voting until the last elections. Today, presiding officers and polling personnel were seen idling away their time throughout the day, reading news magazines and newspapers.Presiding officials, worried over the low voting pattern in their respective booths, were however pleased to be informed that the situation was the same at all other places in the city.Until 3 pm, the total number of votes polled in the Surat LS constituency were 4,49,952, which is about 23 per cent of the total 19,50,938 votes. Mangrolia's statement seemed to reflect the popular mood here. A Varachha resident told him when he appealed to him to vote - ``If Rana loses, then I will come over and vote. My vote does not make sense, when he is going to win by a margin of four lakhs.''The Congress' show wasn't impressive either. At many polling booths in the city, no party polling agents were even seen. While the party had laid out tables in Muslim-dominated areas, where agents were seen guiding voters, the party had very little presence in Varachha, Katargam, Navapura-Golwad and other areas.Navapura-Golwad, considered Rana's stronghold, did not turn up an impressive turnout either. Until 3 pm, only 3270 voters out of the 14,944 had cast their votes at the 13 polling stations in the area. The story was the same in Varachha and Lambe Hanuman Road, considered strongholds of the BJP. For instance, only 147 of the total 1111 at Civil Supplies godown in Varachha had cast their votes until 3 pm.Low voting was registered in the neighbouring Mandvi LS seat as well. Until 3 pm, 28.65 per cent of voters had exercised their franchise in the constituency and officials stated that the final vote percent will not exceed 40 per cent. This is significantly lower than the 63 per cent votes polled in the constituency last time.
