After spending crores of rupees on publicity to increase voter awareness this election season, the GHMC cut a sorry figure, with the average polling percentage further slipping in the Hyderabad district.
As against the 53% recorded during the 2014 Assembly polls, the city has recorded only 51% polling by 7 p.m. on December 7, certainly not a figure that the Corporation could congratulate itself about. Polling fell short of 40% till 3 p.m., and many booths across constituencies including Amberpet, Khairatabad, Secunderabad Cantonment, and Musheerabad wore a forlorn look.
Reasons for the reluctance could only be guessed, but GHMC’s goof-ups with regard to preparation of electoral rolls and distribution of EPICs and voter slips certainly kept many voters off the EVM buttons. While a few people ran around polling stations figuring their names in the lists, many returned after failing to locate them in one booth.
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Polling percentages conspicuously plummeted in all constituencies of the Old City, which pulled down the overall figures. The other reason cited is many voters leaving for vacation thanks to three consecutive holidays. Conspicuous by their absence largely are the first-time voters. The day started off on a bad note in several polling stations of GHMC area, owing to malfunctioning of EVMs and VVPAT machines, which delayed the polling enormously.
Voting did not begin even at 10 a.m. at two polling booths inside the A.V.College polling station, as the EVMs and control units had to be replaced thrice. Voters waited patiently in queues while the officials struggled with the gizmos. EVMs had to be replaced at two more polling stations in Chaitanyapuri too, which delayed voting.
BJP leader K. Laxman said EVM snags had halted the polling at 12 to 14 booths in his constituency alone, about which he had lodged a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer. At some booths, EVMs arrived very late, at about 10 a.m. Sector officers did not visit the locations even upon repeated complaints, he said, expressing dissatisfaction over polling arrangements.
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Polling proceeded at snail’s pace owing to these glitches, and closed at mere 8.38% two hours after the start. By 11 p.m., it reached 16.16%, and by 1 p.m., 25.69%. Even at 3 p.m., the polling remained at 35.31%, with constituencies such as Nampally and Malakpet staying below 30%.
Except at model polling stations, the facilities were not much to boast of. Vehicles deployed for fetching the disabled were not seen except at one location across Amberpet, Musheerabad, Khairatabad and Secunderabad Cantonment constituencies, and few disabled persons were spotted in the queues.
Volunteers were deployed to help the disabled at many polling stations, and minimum facilities of toilets and drinking water were provided.