Chandigarh beats the heat, logs 67.90% turnout

Amit Sharma

Chandigarh, June 1

With a voter turnout of 67.90 per cent, the fate of 19 candidates, including main contenders BJP’s Sanjay Tandon and Congress’ Manish Tewari, was sealed today. Despite searing heat, a large number of voters turned up to elect their new representative in Parliament.

Huge crowds had been witnessed in the colonies and villages, including Dhanas, Maloya, Dadu Majra, Sarganpur, Khuda ali Sher, Ram Darbar, Hallo Majra, Daria and Mauli Jagan, since morning. At a few polling stations, voters started queuing up outside as early as 4 am. In many places, the queues stretched for over 500 metres. The police had a tough time managing the early crowds, who became restless by 7 am.

As the day progressed and the heat got intense, voters found it difficult to wait in queues. They had to brave the scorching sun for as long as two hours. There were reports of people fainting at several polling centres.

Supporters of some political parties offered sweetened water to people who were waiting for their turn to cast vote.

There were no voter crowds in urban parts of the constituency throughout the day. The lowest turnout was recorded between 3 pm and 5 pm with around 10 per cent electorate casting vote.

Between 7 am and 9 am, only 11.64 per cent voters turned up. Between 1 pm and 3 pm, about 12 per cent turnout was recorded.

With the weather becoming cloudy in the evening, the voter turnout saw an increase.

The model polling booths made voting more engaging. Residents appreciated these theme-based booths.

Nearly 4,000 police personnel, including the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) staff, were on poll duty. No major untoward incident was reported in the city.

UT SSP Kanwardeep Kaur confirmed that no violence was reported from any part of the city. “We ensured that the election was conducted peacefully without any interruptions,” she added.

There is a tough fight between the main contenders, two-time MP Manish Tewari and first-timer Sanjay Tandon. Counting will be held on June 4 and the result will be out the same day.

4,48,007 cast vote

Vinay Partap Singh, District Election Officer-cum-Returning Officer, Chandigarh, said a total of 4,48,007 voters, out of 6,59,805 eligible electorate, cast their vote. These figures are provisional, as the Election Office is expected to release the final voter turnout after reconciliation of the data submitted by the polling parties, the official added.

The official said mock polling was conducted between 5.30 am and 6.30 am to ensure a smooth voting process. Voters who entered the polling booths before 6 pm were also allowed to cast vote. Voting at the polling stations in Dhanas and some other parts of the city continued till 8.45 pm.

4 VVPAT & one complete set of EVM (replaced during poll today.

Tight security at strong room

A three-tier security is in place at the Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology (CCET), Sector 26, where a strong room for EVMs has been set up. The counting will be held at the college on June 4. The entire facility is being monitored with CCTV cameras around the clock.