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New Delhi
A beeline at dusk in the West
A proud symbol: Women showing the indelible ink mark on their fingers after casting their vote at a polling station in the Capital on Saturday.
NEW DELHI: Polling in West Delhi for the Delhi Assembly elections began on a sluggish note on Saturday morning but the crowds swelled gradually towards afternoon and long queues were seen outside polling booths around the 5 p.m. deadline.
At Government Senior Secondary School in Rajouri Garden a few morning walkers and joggers could be seen heading towards the polling booths early in the day.
At polling booth No. 123, only 16 residents, a majority of them males, had cast their votes by 9 a.m. This polling booth had 954 votes, comprising 482 men and 472 females.
At Delhi Telugu Education Association Senior Secondary School in Janakpuri that falls under the Hari Nagar Assembly constituency after delimitation, quite a few residents were not aware that their candidates had also changed post-delimitation. Many were still expecting to vote for BJP candidate Jagdish Mukhi. A total of 105 votes had been cast at polling booth No.4 by 11 a.m.
Waiting for her turn, octogenarian Sant Kaur said she always makes it a point to exercise her franchise in the Assembly elections. Accompanied by her 60-year-old son Manjeet Singh, the frail lady did not want to lose out on an opportunity to elect the “right” candidate.
“My mother is 82 and she cannot walk properly, yet the police didn’t allow us to park our car inside the lawns of the DTEA school. I am casting my vote to rid our area of pollution and traffic congestion,” added Mr. Singh.
At Shaheed Captain Anuj Nayyar Bal Vidyalaya in Janakpuri, which again falls in the Hari Nagar constituency, 68 male and 48 female voters had cast their votes at polling booth No.54 by 11-15 a.m.
A total of 72 voters, comprising 47 males and 25 females, had exercised their franchise at Government Girl Senior Secondary School in Tilak Nagar by 10-30 a.m. There was a mix of both elderly and young voters at the polling booth. “Polling is expected to pick up around noon,” said polling officer Bhawna Chugh.
At Kendriya Vidyalaya in Janakpuri C Block, where the BJP’s Jagdish Mukhi is pitted against Deepak Arora of the Congress, 129 votes had been cast at polling booth No.28 by 12 noon. Serpentine queues could be seen at polling booth No. 109 at New Holy Public School in Uttam Nagar by 1 p.m. The total number of votes cast by then was 402.
At Mahavir Enclave Government Co-education Senior Secondary School that falls under the Dwarka constituency, 636 votes -- comprising 383 males and 253 females – had been cast by 3 p.m. The total number of votes at polling booth No. 43 was 1,365.
For former Armyman Digambar Singh, a resident of Suratpur Road, it was an “exciting experience” as he was exercising his franchise from Najafgarh constituency for the first time.
The 55-year-old man, who now earns his livelihood working as a security man in a private school, took his son also along with him. “I am pursuing my B.A. II Year through a correspondence course. Like my father I will also cast my vote for the first time,” said Arun.
At Najafgarh’s polling booth No. 136, where the arch-rival of Kanwal Singh of the Congress is Rajesh Sharma of the BJP, there was “brisk polling”. Of the total of 810 voters listed here, 427 had cast their votes by 3-30 p.m.
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