Date:30/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/30/stories/2008113057870400.htm

New Delhi

Voters rise with the sun in the East

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Long queues with up to 100 voters remained a constant feature for the rest of the day

- Photo: Sandeep Saxena

Voters’ day out: The scene at a polling station in East Delhi on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: Polling for the Delhi Assembly elections in the ten segments falling in the East Delhi parliamentary constituency picked up -- from a meagre 4 per cent in the first two and a half hours at some of the booths – as the day progressed. Making the most of a holiday and pleasant weather, a great many voters came out once the sun shone bright and clear.

At many places, long queues with up to 100 voters remained a constant feature for the rest of the day.

At MCD Primary School in Kondli village which due to its rural backdrop normally witnesses heavy polling, long queues were seen from early in the morning. Outside the polling station, too, there was a heavy rush at the tables of all the three main parties – the Congress, the BJP and the BSP – of whom the first two had given party caps and scarves to their agents. Here sitting Congress MLA Amrish Singh Gautam is pitted against Dushyant Gautam of the BJP.

At a booth catering to Harijan Basti, 118 voters out of a total of 785 had cast their votes by 10 a.m. The adjoining booths witnessed an even higher turnout with over 50 people lined up outside many of them.

In contrast, the polling was extremely light in booth No. 95 of Patparganj constituency falling in Khichripur village. The constituency is witnessing a battle between two youth leaders, Anil Kumar Chaudhary of the Congress and Nakul Bhardwaj of the BJP. Only 43 of the 1,077 voters had exercised their franchise by 10-30 a.m. Most other booths in the area saw a huge turnout towards the evening. Some polling officials were heard grumbling that the turnout was so high that they hadn’t had a moment to eat or have a sip of tea!

In the more posh segment of this constituency in Mayur Vihar Phase I, only 29 votes had been cast till 10 a.m. in booth No.140. By 1-45 p.m., however, nearly 400 votes had been cast at some of the booths here.

Vishwas Nagar, where the Delhi Chief Minister’s political secretary and Congress MLA Naseeb Singh is seeking re-election opposite Om Prakash Sharma, personal secretary to BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley, witnessed moderate polling early in the day. As many as 85 of a total of 789 voters at polling booth No.103 had voted by 10-40 a.m. For Bharat Singh, a young resident of Patparganj and a businessman by profession, it was “the time to ensure that we get good governance”. He declared that though just 24, he was no “Pappu” as he has already polled in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections and the 2007 MCD elections.

In Krishna Nagar, witnessing a direct fight between three-time MLA and Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan and councillor Deepika Khullar of the Congress, the voting pattern was more or less similar. Less than 10 per cent of the votes had been cast at some of the booths by 11 a.m..

Gandhi Nagar, where two-time MLA and Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely is seeking the mandate of the people, was comparatively better in terms of initial turnout as in booth No.124 over 150 votes out of 824 had been cast by 11-15 a.m. Mr. Lovely is facing a direct challenge from BJP block leader Kamal Jain.

In Shahdara, the constituency of former Delhi Minister and sitting MLA Narendra Nath, voter interest appeared to be intact despite the BJP fielding Jitender Singh Shunty of the Shiromani Akali Dal here albeit on its own symbol. At booth No.36 here, nearly 15 per cent of the 1,235 voters had pressed the button by 11-50 a.m.

The Laxmi Nagar constituency of Delhi Finance Minister A. K. Walia, from where the BJP has fielded Murari Singh Panwar, saw a lot of voter interest in the afternoon. By noon, 216 of the 1.301 voters had cast their votes at booth No.25 here that falls in Lalita Park. This area also has a large Muslim population and women in burqas thronged the polling station in large numbers. Interestingly, many people both within and outside the gates of the station were heard whispering ``Ek number daba do” (Press number one) which was the BSP slot on the EVMs.

In Okhla, where the reverberations of the Batla House happenings can still be heard, polling was so high that the staff were concerned how they would manage the late surge. At Meerabai Polytechnic here a presiding officer said in his booth that caters to Kalindi Colony and CRRI staff quarters there are 1,466 votes. ``It is humanly impossible to make them vote as even at 50 per cent voting, you have to get one vote polled in every 40 seconds.” The booth had seen 524 votes cast by 2-30 p.m. The constituency is represented by Pervez Hashmi of the Congress.

Jangpura MLA Tarvinder Singh Marwah, who faced a tough time getting the Congress ticket this time, was seen moving around the constituency boosting the morale of his election agents in the afternoon. There was a high turnout in the constituency with nearly 20 per cent of the 969 voters in booth No.96 having polled by 2-50 p.m. Mr. Marwah is facing a direct contest from Manjinder Singh Sirsa of the Shiromani Akali Dal, who is contesting on the BJP symbol.