Peaceful voting in Nagpur, Amravati, Akola

Gadchiroli also records incident-free polling

February 22, 2017 02:18 am | Updated 02:41 am IST

NAGPUR: Barring a few small incidents, the voting for three municipal corporations in Vidarbha — Nagpur, Amravati and Akola — remained peaceful on Tuesday.

The new system of four member electoral wards, which made each voter press four buttons for the election, however, resulted in hectic work for election officers in almost each booth as they had to explain to the voters about the new system.

“It took a little more time to vote this time as we had to select four candidates, but it was not that difficult as there were large posters outside every polling booth explaining about the news election system,” informed Goverdhan Bagade, who came to cast his vote at a booth situated near University Campus in Nagpur along with his wife Rekha.

Some complaints of “faulty EVM machines” were reported from some parts of Nagpur but the election officials managed to pacify the voters.

Early voters

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat was among the first voters who cast their votes early morning in Nagpur.

The RSS chief, surrounded by his bodyguards, visited the Bhartiya Mahila Mahavidyalaya near RSS headquarters in Mahal area of Nagpur at around 9 a.m. to exercise his voting right.

Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari came along with his family to cast his vote and appealed to the people of Maharashtra to come out for voting in large numbers.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also turned up for voting in Dharampeth area of Nagpur along with his mother and wife.

Both the leaders from Nagpur were actively involved in BJP’s candidate selection and campaigning in Nagpur. Mr. Gadkari was more focused on Nagpur whereas the CM was the star campaigner for the BJP across Maharashtra.

Despite his party being the ruling party in the Nagpur municipal corporation for last two terms, Mr. Gadkari was seen canvassing for his party until the last moment. There were allegations of violation of model code of conduct by some Congress leaders against him after his car was surrounded by some people in Bangladesh colony area of Nagpur on Monday night.

Trading allegations

BJP MLA Krishna Khopde was accused by some opposition parties of allegedly pressurising voters to vote for his party and a Congress worker alleged manhandling by BJP MLC Parinay Fuke in East Nagpur area.

The Nagpur Municipal Corporation had made all preparation for the polls.

Voter slips, which are usually distributed to voters by the political parties, were sent to the voters directly by the NMC this time.

The NMC had also launched an extensive campaign to educate the voters about the new system of four members electoral ward.

According to Nagpur District Information Officer Anil Gadekar, Nagpur recorded 53% voting on Tuesday, less than the 2012 election.

Amravati Municipal Corporation recorded 55% voting and Amravati Zila Parishad recorded 67% voting whereas Akola recorded 56% polling in the municipal corporation elections, said Mr. Gadekar.

The Maoist-affected Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra also witnessed voting for the Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti on Tuesday.

“The voting was largely peaceful in Gadchiroli. Around 70% voter turnout was registered for the ZP polls on Tuesday. Patagudem village in Sironcha division of the district, which is situated deep inside the forest, witnessed polling for the first time in the history of independent India. For the first time a polling booth was situated in this village,” claimed Gadchiroli district Superintendent of Police in a press statement.

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