The Assembly by-election here on Saturday saw only 32.5 per cent voter turnout, which political parties attributed to the lack of awareness among Noida residents.
Polling agents of political parties blamed the Election Commission for not conducting awareness campaigns about the election.
Blame
At a polling station in Sector 28 here, Gopal Krishan Aggarwal, a member of the BJP national executive, said: “The Election Commission did not do the kind of campaigns it did for the Lok Sabha polls. People just didn’t know that the election was happening.”
Most polling booths wore a sleepy look, with no long queues and crowds. Even security personnel found it difficult to remain awake.
However, the turnout in the villages within Noida was more.
Issues in the rolls
District Magistrate and District Election Officer A.V. Rajamouli said: “The turnout was poor as people tend to stay away in urban areas. Also, being a Saturday, many people were enjoying the weekend.”
A BJP worker, Krishan Kumar Arora, added that many people were unable to find their names on the electoral roll.
“There wasn’t enough time to revise the rolls for the by-election. So, people who were off the list for the Lok Sabha polls were unable to vote this time too.”
Mr. Arora said there were many instances of members of one family being given polling stations in different sectors.
Peaceful proceedings
The workers said the ECI should adopt a ‘one sector, one station’ policy, thus making it more convenient for voters.
Meanwhile, Mr. Rajamouli said voting went off “peacefully” in the Assembly segment that has 85 per cent sensitive and hyper-sensitive polling booths out of the total 461.
Apart from that, 146 booths were considered to be critical as one candidate had won more than 75 per cent of the vote in the previous election.
The by-election was called after former BJP MLA Mahesh Sharma became the Gautam Budh Nagar MP.
The BJP fielded 62-year-old businesswoman Vimla Batham, who was confident that she would succeed Dr. Sharma in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
The Congress fielded Rajendra Awana, while the Bahujan Samaj Party and the AAP did not put up any candidates.