Faridabad: Low turnout in ministers' segments worries aspirants

Bijendra Ahlawat

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Faridabad, May 27

Heat of the low turnout and win or loss margin in the Assembly segments of ministers threatens to affect the fate of the probables for the Assembly poll due this year. Faridabad had the lowest turnout among all 10 Lok Sabha constituencies, with 60.2 per cent polling.

While Badkhal, Minister of State Seema Trikha’s segment, recorded the minimum of 52.6 per cent turnout, Ballabhgarh — the seat held by Cabinet minister Mool Chand Sharma — recorded 53.1 per cent, which is the second lowest among all nine Assembly segments of the constituency.

Describing it as a matter of concern, political analyst Devender Singh said the low turnout could be a basis for finalising candidates for the Assembly poll in October. “Segments held by the ministers are expected to perform better than others as they had higher resources at their disposal,” says Paras Bhardwaj, another analyst.

As the majority of Assembly segments had ruling party MLAs, the margin of victory or the loss of party candidate in a particular segment could be vital, he said.

An MLA was seen making frantic appeals to people during the campaign to ensure the victory of the candidate from his segment so he could stake claim to ticket. “Aapse haath jodkar prathna hai yadi (candidate) yahan se haarkar jaate hain to meri ticket kat jayegi, mein aapke aage jholi felatan hun (I need your support as I may be denied ticket if our candidate loses this seat),” he said.

A similar appeal was made by former Congress MLA Yogesh Sharma, who said the Lok Sabha elections were a litmus test as the victory or defeat of the candidate from a segment might result in denial of ticket. The Faridabad constituency has nine Assembly segments, of which seven MLAs belong to the BJP, one to the Congress and one is an Independent.

Mool Chand Sharma, however, claimed that his party candidate would emerge victorious by a margin of at least 60,000 votes from his segment, despite the turnout.

Seema Trikha said low turnout had no relation with the performance of any MLA or leader in the party as it could be due to certain factors, including floating population and extreme temperatures.