This story is from November 19, 2018

Uttarakhand civic polls: Most districts record over 60% polling

Uttarakhand civic polls: Most districts record over 60% polling
Queues were visible in the polling centres since 8 am and continued till long after 5pm
DEHRADUN/NAINITAL: The polling for the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) elections on Sunday saw a record turnout with most districts recording over 60% turnout. Voters came out in large numbers and exercised their franchise to elect members of the 84 urban bodies that went to polls in the state.
Barring few minor incidents, no clashes or untoward incident was reported during polling.
Results would be declared on Tuesday.
Following printing error in the ballot papers, the polling for three booths of ward number 31 in Kashipur was scheduled for Monday.
The polling would only be for electing ward member as there were no discrepancies in the mayoral ballot papers. The printing error was spotted in booth numbers 106, 107 and 108 set up at Uday Raj Inter College in Kashipur. The symbols did not match with the name of ward candidates in the ballot paper.
Queues were visible in the polling centres since 8 am and continued till long after 5pm. As a result, the state saw a record voter turnout. While Almora registered 58.82% polling, Champawat had 72.21% turnout each. Nainital recorded 65.79%, Bageshwar had 70.02% polling, Chamoli recorded 65.79% turnout, Tehri was at 66.01%, Rudraprayag recorded 66.64%, of Pithoragarh was at 63.86%, Uttarkashi recorded 66.84% and Pauri recorded 70.04% turnout. Polling percentages at Udham Singh Nagar,
Dehradun and Haridwar districts were not available till the time of filing the report.
Till 10 am, Uttarakhand saw 12.86% polling which went up to 30.78% by noon. By 2pm the polling rose to 44.33 per cent and by 4pm touched 59.97 per cent.
However, some people who turned up at different polling centres were disappointed to find their names missing from the voter list. Such matters were reported in different parts of the Himalayan state, including Dehradun, Mussoorie and Pithoragarh districts.
State election commissioner Chandra Shekhar Bhatt told TOI, “In 2008, the ULB polls saw 61.86% polling and it went up to 65.56% in 2013. We were confident of setting a new record this time.” Bhatt lauded the efforts put in by the entire staff working in the poll duty for peaceful polls.
He, however, denied any incidents of clash or violence during the polls. “The polling was peaceful everywhere,” he said.
Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said that the peaceful polls were an outcome of the hard work put in by the employees, officers and police personnel. “People have appreciated the work of the BJP government in last 18 months and our efforts to check corruption. Therefore, we are confident of a positive outcome,” he said.
Former CM Harish Rawat was of the view that the high voting percentage reflected that people were not pleased with the BJP and had come out in large numbers to vote against the ruling political outfit. “As BJP had incumbent mayors at most seats and was in power, it first needs to tell people that why their elected representatives failed to perform in the past five years,” the former CM said.
There were 23.53 lakh voters — 12.20 lakh male and 11.33 lakh females — in the 84 urban local bodies across Uttarakhand. This was for the first time that Rishikesh and Kotdwar witnessed mayoral polls. While the BJP is eyeing to strengthen its vote base by repeating the performance of Lok Sabha and assembly polls, the opposition Congress is looking to make a strong comeback through the ULB polls.
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