The Five Lok Sabha constituencies in Vidarbha region which went to polls in the second phase of general elections on Friday saw over 50 per cent voting in the region. The results announced were of counting till 5 pm. As the final results are yet to come, the tally will improve, it is expected. AMRAVATI: DESPITE all out efforts and awareness from District Administration, the voting percentage of Amravati Lok Sabha Constituency where election were conducted on Friday remained below expectation. Till 5 pm, only 54.50 per cent voting was registered. With final figures coming in later in the night, the percentage might reach around 60. In 2019 election, the voting percentage of Amravati Lok Sabha constituency was 63.8 per cent. Voters came out of the house for voting from 7 am and the flow was reportedly good till 12 noon.

 

 

The afternoon hours witness a slack pace which picked up again in the last hour. Even after 6 pm, the time to end the voting, long queues were observed at some polling centres. Voter turned out was excellent in muslim-dominated areas where large queue of voters were seen in polling centres throughout the day. Amravati Lok Sabha Constituency has total of 18,36,078 voters who have, on Friday, decided on the fate of 37 candidates in Amravati Lok Sabha Constituency. The voter turn-out in the first two hours (by 9 am) was 6.34 per cent. By 11 am, it went up to 17.73 percent and by 1 pm to 31.41 percent. By 3 pm, the percentage reported was 43.77 which increased to 54.55 per cent till 5 pm.

 

Achalpur Assembly Constituency recorded the highest 61.33 per cent of voting till 5 pm which was followed by Melghat Assembly Constituency which recorded 55.20 per cent while 54.61 pc was recorded in Amravati Assembly, Daryapur - 53 per cent, Teosa - 52.71 percent and Badnera Assembly Constituency remained at the bottom with 50.94 per cent voting. Senior citizens, women and youths showed enthusiasm to cast their votes. Centres like Pathan Chowk, Nagpuri Gate, Vilas Nagar, Rajkamal, Wadali, VMV area, Badnera and other part of Amravati City witnessed long queues throughout the day. There were problem in a few EVM machines which were immediately changed. Administration had made special arrangement for the voters. Many leaders including sitting MP Navneet Rana, MLA Balwant Wankhade, MLA Ravi Rana, MLA Adv. Yashomati Thakur, Dr Anil Bonde, Rajya Sabha Member, MLA Bachchu Kadu, MLA Rajkumar Patel, MLC Pravin Pote, Dr Sunil Deshmukh, former minister Contd from page 1 and others including Saurabh Katiyar, Amravati District Collector, Padmashree Shankarbaba Papalkar exercised their right to vote. Meanwhile, many names were missing from the voters’ list. Despite efforts to locate their names through the Election Commission website, checking with booth-level officers on polling station and various app created by candidates they failed to find their names. Hundreds of voters were unable to vote, despite having valid Voter ID cards. Many complained about their names missing from voters’ list.

 

Complaint about bogus voting were also reported. Stong police bandobast was maintained across the district to avert any untoward incident. Mean-while, Navneet Rana, BJP candidate, had a heated exchange of words with Manjusha Jadhav, former Corporator when Jadhav objected to her entering polling booth stating that it was illegal. Manish Sathe, Amravati City President of Prahar Janshakti Party also objected MLA Ravi Rana entering one of the polling station area at Frezarpura area. Sathe said that candidate’s husband is not allowed to entered into polling station. AKOLA: The National General Election held for Akola Parliamentary Constituency, recorded only 52.69 per cent voting till 5 pm. Despite prolonged voter awareness campaigns launched by district administration, social organisation and schools, people in the city area did not show enough enthusiasm to come out and vote. The voting started at 7 am at 2,056 polling stations in the 8 Legislative Assembly constituencies in Akola Parliamentary Constituency. Within two hours, ie, till 9 am, Akola Constituency recorded 17.37 per cent voting. However, later the pace of voting came down as the mercury started moving northwards. Till evening, Akola Parliamentary Constituency recorded an approximate voting turnout 52.69 percent. Akot recorded 52.30 percent, Balapur 57.65 percent, Akola West recorded 47.38 percent, Akola East - 49.10 percent, Murtijapur - 56.93, 33 Risod - 53.79 per cent voting. Out of a total 18,90,814 voters, 55,03,529 men and 50,69,529 women exercised their franchise. In the morning, the polling booths decorated on special themes of forest, agriculture, rural culture, wildlife protection and social issues were having drinking water and seating facilities. A room at the polling booth located at Dadasaheb Divekar School was reserved for transgender voters. As many as 1,544 employees were deployed at 2,056 polling booths. The election is being seen as a triangular fight among Anup Dhotre, son of BJP MP Sanjay Dhotre, Dr Abhay Patil of Congress and Adv. Prakash Ambedkar of Wanchit Bahujan Aghadi while total 15 candidates are in the fray. These leaders along with their family members cast their votes. In morning hours, Collector and Chief Returning Officer Ajit Kumbhar exercised his franchise along with his wife. A large number of voters, who registered their names online, found their names missing from the voters’ list.

 

They had to return home without casting their valuable votes. Voter’s slips hearing photo, name and symbol of candidates were not allowed in the polling stations. However, at many places, voters were seen entering polling booths holding the voter slips and the polling officers were turning a blind eye to it. BULDHANA: The second phase of voting for Buldhana Lok Sabha Constituency in the Lok Sabha Elections was held on Friday and 52.88 polling per cent was recorded till 5 pm. The highest voter turnout was in Mehkar Assembly Constituency, while the lowest turnout was in Buldhana Assembly Constituency. Voting for Buldhana Lok Sabha Constituency started today from 7 in the morning. By five o'clock in the evening, 52.88 per cent voting has been done in which 42.67 per cent voting has been done in Buldhana Assembly Constituency, which is the lowest voter turnout. Till 9 am, 6.61 per cent voting was reported which increased to 17.92 pc by 11 am, 29.07 pc till 1 pm, 41.66 pc till 3 pm and 52.88 till 5 pm. As many as 9,31,249 voters exercised their franchise out of which 5,04,630 were male voters while 4,26,615 were female voters. So, 54.08 pc male voters and 50.22 pc female exercised their right to vote. In Buldhana Assembly Constituency, complaints regarding EVM machines shutting down came from 16 places, control units at 8 places and VVPAT at 12 places. There were 21 candidates in the fray for the Buldhana Lok Sabha seat, but their fate has been locked in the EVM machine, but the Buldhana contest is a three-way contest, in which the Shinde Sena will be fought between Uddhav Sena and Independents.

 

Discussions are going to be about who is behind whom, what is going on in which village. YAVATMAL-WASHIM: The constituency witnessed 54.04 per cent voting till 5 pm even as the temperatures cross 40 degree celcius. The constituency has a total of 19,40,916 registered voters, comprising 10,02,400 male voters, 9,38,452 female voters, and 64 others. Out of this, 10,48,857 voters exercised their franchise by the 5 pm. Among them were 5,59,248 male voters, 4,89,588 female voters, and 21 others. In the three assembly constituencies of Washim district, - Washim, Karanja, and Risod. The polling percentages in the Assembly constituencies until 5 pm were - Washim Assembly Constituency - 53.81 pc, Karanja Assembly Constituency - 50.41 pc, Ralegaon Assembly Constituency - 61.50 pc, Yavatmal Assembly Constituency - 49.46 pc, Digras Assembly Constituency - 57.06 pc and Pusad Assembly Constituency - 53.18 pc In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Washim-Yavatmal Lok Sabha Constituency recorded a voter turnout of 61.31 pc with 19,16,185 registered voters. Of these, 11,74,824 voters cast their ballots. This year, a higher voter turnout is anticipated. Problems were witnessed at one or two places with the machines. At Falegaon in Babhulgaon, there was confusion forcing Election Officer and Tehsildar of Babhulgaon to install a new machine. In Dabha in Babhulgaon taluka, polling was stopped for some time due to complaints about EVMs. At Hivari in Yavatmal taluka in the afternoon, all employees including the center inspector closed the door of the polling station to have their lunch together, the voters who had come had to wait in the heat till officials completed with their meals. At Watbori in Kalamba taluka, not a single voter came to vote for first 3 hours. A 19-year-old girl went missing and so villagers decided to boycott polls. On getting information, Kalamb Tehsildar Dheeraj Thul and Deputy Superintendent of Police Dinesh Baisa reached the village and assured the villagers to search for the girl immediately after which the villagers withdrew their agitation. Voting in Yavatmal city went on smoothly. In Chhoti Gujri, complaints of people luring voters were recived. Mahayuti candidate Rajshree Patil went to Nanded to vote. Mahavikas Aghadi candidate Sanjay Deshmukh voted with his family at Digras. Yavatmal MLA Madan Yerawar voted at Yavatmal. Manikrao Thackeray voted in his village Haru Former minister Shivajirao Moghe voted in Vasantnagar. Collector Dr Pankaj Asia stood in a queue at Shivaji High School and cast his vote along with his wife. WARDHA: Lok Sabha Constituency witnessed 56.67 per cent polling till 5 pm. Voting started peacefully in all centres of the constituency. Voters were seen present at the polling booths right from 7 am. Long queues of voters were seen at various places. Special arrangements were made on behalf of the district administration so that disabled and senior voters can vote easily. There are 16,82,771 voters in Wardha Lok Sabha Constituency, out of which 8,58,439 are male and 8,24,318 are female and 14 others. Out of these, 5,09,083 male voters (59.30 per cent), 4,44,464 female voters (53.92 per cent) and 6 other voters (42.9 per cent) cast their franchise till 5 pm taking the voting percentage to 56.67 per cent. Assembly constituency-wise polling percentages are as follows Dhamangaon - 53.58 per cent, Morshi - 57.60 per cent, Arvi - 60.85 per cent, Deoli - 57.11 per cent, Hinganghat - 55.48 per cent and Wardha - 56.06 per cent.