Low turnout of voters in the Moosapet and Kukatpally circles of GHMC, where a majority of the 11 wards are considered to have the electorate with higher awareness, proved to be a big dampener for poll managers of major political parties.
In the 2016 GHMC elections, polling percentage in the 11 wards of the two circles was about 48.5% and the major parties had been expecting a better turnout this time what with a high-pitched electioneering.
However, except for a few polling stations here and there, not even a handful of persons were seen at the polling stations as very few voters went to polling stations and cast their vote without having to wait in the queue.
As the final count of polling percentage was yet to be announced at the filing of this report, preliminary reports put the turnout of voters in the two circles below 40%. Asked about the low voter turnout, a presiding officer of a polling station in the Allwyn Colony (ward 124) said the fear of COVID-19 and general lack of interest could be the reasons.
Non-receipt of flood relief assistance of ₹10,000 per household and confusion created by the distribution of votes between different polling stations and wards has also added to the disinterest among voters.
Ward confusion
“Last time, the entire votes of Sriramnagar Colony abutting HMT Hills locality were included in the polling stations pertaining to ward 124 but this time some votes were included in Hydernagar ward 123,” Sadik, a voter of the locality, complained.
Denial of flood relief assistance also kept some regular voters away from polling. Explaining why he did not cast his vote this time, construction worker Durga Prasad said he and a couple of his family members did not vote this time round as they were not given the flood relief amount of ₹10,000.
“The local leaders of the ruling party have swindled the relief amount,” he remarked.
An examination of polling pattern till 5 p.m. clearly indicated that it did not even approach the half-way mark in about 20 of the 23 polling stations from where the polling details were collected by this reporter.
