The Hindu : New Delhi News : Old and the young swarm booths in Chandni Chowk DELhi assembly elections 2008

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Old and the young swarm booths in Chandni Chowk DELhi assembly elections 2008

Devesh K. Pandey

Constituency dons a festive look with all the shops open

NEW DELHI: The ten Delhi Assembly segments falling under the Chandni Chowk parliamentary constituency witnessed a heavy turnout of voters on Saturday with the polling percentage going up as the day progressed.

Witnessing a triangular contest between three-time sitting MLA Shoaib Iqbal, Congress candidate Mahmood Zia and BJP nominee Talat Sultana, Matia Mahal wore a festive look with almost all shops open over the weekend. The streets were swarming with the old and the young alike discussing politics as they walked up to the booths to cast their votes.

Around 4 p.m., booth No.64 comprising 800 voters and booth 65 had registered 47 and 50 per cent polling, respectively. In Ballimaran, where Delhi Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf and BJP MLA Moti Lal Sodi are contesting, booth No.102 saw nearly 48 per cent voter turnout and booth 103 recorded 57 per cent voting, whereas almost 39 per cent voting was recorded at booth 104 by around 3 p.m. Among those who queued up to exercise their franchise were several burqa-clad women.

In the Walled City of Delhi, polling took place under heavy security with booths set up at short distances in the narrow lanes. Journalists were not allowed inside most booths despite having Election Commission identity cards. By 2-45 p.m., several booths in Chandni Chowk had recorded a turnout of 40 to 50 per cent. Booths 139 and 156 in neighbouring Sadar Bazar, a busy market places where all shutters were down in the afternoon, saw about 36 per cent voting till around 2-15 p.m.

The posh Model Town area saw a massive turnout at some places with almost 40 per cent polling at booth 99 and 44 per cent at booth 103 around 2 p.m. A large number of women and senior citizens turned up to cast their votes in the afternoon. In Adarsh Nagar, booth 78 had recorded a massive turnout of nearly 50 per cent by 12-15 p.m.

At Shalimar Bagh, election officials were considerate enough to allow several people to cast their vote though they were not carrying any identification card. “There should not be any problem as the voters’ list has their photographs,” said an election official. At Shakur Basti, 87-year-old J. N. Dayal, who retired from the post of Director Education way back in 1980, and his 79-year-old wife C. K. Dayal, were not going to let go of this opportunity. Mr. Dayal complained about “shoddy work” of the Election Commission in preparing voter-identity cards. “My son and daughter-in-law have not received their cards. In my card, they have pasted some young man’s photograph and have mentioned my age as 19.” He, however, was happy over the restriction imposed over unnecessary “hullabaloo” during campaigning. “The real issues are food, shelter and health care,” he said.

Long queues were seen at the polling stations in Wazirpur. “I have been waiting for my turn for the past one hour,” said Babloo, a young voter. On the other hand, 80-year-old Murlidhar wearing a Gandhi cap said he was casting his vote because he wanted to be counted as a citizen of the country.

At Tri Nagar, people said they were not voting for the party but the candidate who they think could deliver.

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