Turnout falls by 11% in Mukerian

Mukerian, October 21

Polling in this constituency saw a steep fall of more than 11 per cent today compared to the 2017 election when 70 per cent polling was recorded.

Despite favourable weather conditions and 11-hour voting, a mere 58.6 per cent polling was recorded in the constituency. Polling started at 7 am and it picked up towards the afternoon. A few EVMs developed snags during the mock poll and those were repaired or replaced with new ones. The ongoing paddy harvesting was cited as a major reason behind the low poll percentage.

Voting was delayed at some places. At 9 am, 12% votes were polled. In the next two hours, the poll percentage reached 23.5 per cent, and till 1 pm, 36.94% votes had been polled. The figure reached 48.1 per cent by 3 pm.

By 5 pm, 57.28 per cent votes had been polled, but the last hour saw a steep fall in polling. The average polling percentage of more that 6 per cent per hour fell to a mere 1.75 per cent in the last hour.

District Election Officer Isha Kalia said there was around 59 per cent polling till 6 pm but the exact final figure was yet to be calculated. Voting remained completely peaceful. —OC