Chandigarh: Over 46 percent of the more than 51 lakh eligible voters for civic body polls in Haryana exercised their franchise on Sunday, officials said.
The polling was peaceful and no untoward incident was reported from anywhere, State Election Commissioner Dhanpat Singh said after the conclusion of the voting.
Polling was held to elect the mayors and ward members of seven municipal corporations — Gurugram, Manesar, Faridabad, Hisar, Rohtak, Karnal, and Yamunanagar.
Bypolls for the mayors’ posts in Ambala and Sonipat were also held.
The voting was held from 8 am to 6 pm.
According to the updated figures put out by the State Election Commission at 9:30 pm, the turnout in the civic polls was recorded at 46.5 percent.
The officials said the overall percentage may slightly increase once the entire data is collected.
Elections were also held for the posts of presidents and ward members in four municipal councils — Ambala Sadar, Pataudi Jatoli Mandi, Thanesar and Sirsa.
A bypoll was also held for the president’s post in the Sohna Municipal Council.
Voting also took place for the election of the presidents and ward members in 21 municipal committees. Bypolls for the presidents’ posts in the municipal committees of Assandh (Karnal district) and Ismailabad (Kurukshetra district) were also conducted.
Ahead of the polls, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini had exuded confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would win the contests and said work would be done three times faster after the formation of a “triple-engine” government, a reference to the saffron party being in power at the Centre, in the state as well as in the civic bodies.
The Congress had appealed to the voters to elect the party candidates with a full majority. The grand old party, out of office in Haryana for more than 10 years, is looking to turn around its electoral fortunes in the civic polls.
Union minister and former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar was among the early voters, casting his vote at a booth in Karnal.
“Voting is our democratic right and we also must exercise our franchise,” he told reporters, exuding confidence that the BJP would win the polls.
Another Union minister, Krishan Pal Gurjar, cast his vote at a booth in Faridabad.
Haryana minister Anil Vij, who cast his vote in Ambala Cantonment, said, “All the voters should participate in the greatest festival of democracy. A triple-engine government will be formed in Haryana. People are aware that the BJP governs both at the Centre and in Haryana, and if the party also governs the urban local bodies, development will accelerate.” Sunderlal Yadav, the BJP’s mayoral candidate for Manesar, where municipal elections were held for the first time, cast his vote at a booth in the Manesar area.
While some places saw a healthy voter turnout, the poll percentage remained comparatively low at places like Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat, Rohtak and Hisar.
Gurugram recorded a turnout of 41.8 percent, with Farukh Nagar in the district registering a healthy poll percentage of nearly 77. Manesar recorded a 67-per cent voter turnout and Sohna saw a low turnout of 35.9 percent.
Sonipat recorded a poor turnout of about 29 percent, though Kharkhoda in the district registered more than 62 percent polling.
Rohtak recorded a poll percentage of 53.4.
In Ambala district, the turnout was a poor 32 percent in Ambala, 52.3 percent in Ambala Sadar, and 67.5 percent in Barara.
In Faridabad, the turnout was around 40.3 percent.
However, in Fatehabad’s Jakhal Mandi, the turnout was a healthy 85.2 percent. In Jind district’s Julana and Safidon, the turnout was recorded at 70.9 percent and 81.5 percent respectively.
Narnaund in Hisar district recorded a healthy voter turnout of 82.7 percent, while Hisar registered a poll percentage of 52.1.
At Taoru in Nuh district, 78 percent of voters exercised their franchise.
In Karnal district, the turnout was poor 33.2 percent in Assandh, 48 percent in Karnal, 72.7 percent in Indri, 67.4 percent in Nilokheri, and 76.4 percent in Taraori.
Sirsa recorded a poll percentage of 56.4.
The start of polling was delayed by an hour at a booth in the Gurugram Municipal Corporation’s ward number 5 due to a snag in the electronic voting machine (EVM), sources said.
The state election commissioner had earlier said 39 candidates were contesting the elections for the mayors’ posts in the nine municipal corporations and 27 had entered the fray for the presidents’ posts in the five municipal councils.
Polling for the Panipat Municipal Corporation will be held on March 9.
The votes will be counted on March 12 and the results declared the same day.
Meanwhile, the state election commissioner said extensive arrangements were made to conduct the urban local bodies’ elections in a peaceful, fair and transparent manner.
“General, police and expenditure observers were appointed in the electoral process. Along with this, duty magistrates, supervisors, presiding officers, polling officers were appointed in all the bodies concerned,” Singh said in an official statement after the polling ended.
He said adequate police force was pressed into service for security and additional force deployed at sensitive and highly-sensitive polling stations. A control room was also set up to monitor the electoral process, he said.
