From a polling station in the upscale part of town in the vicinity of the Jai Vilas Palace to one in a Dalit neighbourhood that saw violence during last year’s Bharat Bandh, voters in Gwalior Lok Sabha constituency said they had development and a strong government in mind when they cast their votes on Sunday.
Among the eight Lok Sabha constituencies of Madhya Pradesh that went to polls on Sunday in the sixth phase of voting, Gwalior saw a tentative turnout of 59.60% — an increase from 52.80% in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls — according to figures from the Election Commission of India’s voter turnout app late in the evening. However, the number was subject to revision.
“We are still compiling the figures but the turnout is expected to be around 60%. Polling went off peacefully,” said Gwalior District Collector and Returning Officer Anurag Chaudhary.
Sadhna Gandhi, a housewife who voted at the AMI Shishu Mandir polling station, where Congress candidate from nearby Guna constituency and scion of the Scindia family, Jyotiraditya Scindia, also voted, said: “The country should get a strong government and one that takes us forward.”
Assembly poll indicator
A seat held by the BJP since 1999, Gwalior saw a swing towards the Congress in the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, with seven of the eight Assembly segments in the constituency going to the party.
The BJP’s Vivek Shejwalkar faces the Congress’ Ashok Singh for the seat with incumbent BJP MP Narendra Singh Tomar shifted to neighbouring Morena constituency this time.
Another Gwalior voter, R.S. Sharma, a retired political science teacher, said, “The candidate is only a means; the goal is Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
His friend, businessman Jai Kumar Kothari, interrupted him: “Traders will not vote for Modi — they are fed up with his policies. Last time, Mr. Tomar won because of the Modi wave. This was no longer a safe seat for him so he went to Morena.”
Outside a polling station near the Mela Ground in Gwalior, kirana shop owner Balram Singh Kushwaha, disagreed with the argument that traders were unhappy with the Modi government.
“We went to vote for national security. GST and demonetisation were not real issues for me. I want Modi to focus more on providing jobs for the youth. He needs to work more on this,” he said.
Amidst exclusion
In the Bhim Nagar area of Gwalior constituency, where protests by Dalit groups against the dilution of the SC/ST Act during a Bharat Bandh on April 2, 2018 had turned violent, voting carried on with police presence outside.
“Things have been calm since the April 2 incident. None of the parties have ever come here. No one does anything for the poor. We vote because that is our right,” said Vitoli, a senior citizen from Bhim Nagar.
