Despite enthusiasm among voters and the long queues at the polling centres, the total voting of Nagpur Lok Sabha tentatively reached 54.46% and that of Ramtek was registered at 52.38%. In last polls in Nagpur, the last count was 57.57% while in Ramtek, it was 65.79%. Senior citizens, women and first time voters made it a point not to miss the chance of becoming a part of this great democratic process. In Nagpur, there are 22,19,244 voters while Ramtek has 20,46,435 voters. The fate of all 26 candidates in Nagpur and 28 candidates in Ramtek was sealed in the Electronic Voting Machine on Friday. Office of the Returning Officer was compiling the final voting figures and the exercise was expected to continue well beyond midnight. The final voting per cent will be released on Saturday. Voters turned out in large numbers since 7 am and there was steady flow at polling centres throughout the day. The voting, that began at 7 am, picked up momentum in first two hours and by 9 am, it reached 5.82% in Ramtek and 7.73% in Nagpur. In Ramtek constituency, Umred registered 60.74% voting. Ramtek followed with 59.26%.

 

 

 

In Nagpur, East-Nagpur registered highest voting per centage while Central Nagpur registered lowest. In East-Nagpur, 57.80% voters exercised their franchise. The voting per centage of other constituencies include Central Nagpur- 54.02, North Nagpur 55.15, South Nagpur- 53.00 and West Nagpur 53.56. In 2014, the final voting figure was 57.12%. A lot of senior citizens were seen coming to the polling stations to cast their votes. The centres in areas like Mominpura, Vaishali Nagar, Timki, Shanti Nagar, Khamla, Jaripatka, Bhagwan Nagar witnessed long queues throughout the day. Although the administration had made food and water arrangements for the staff on election duty, it was not possible for them to have it till 4 pm because of voters’ rush.

 

At some polling booths, people got confused as the receipt of VVPAT machines was not getting out. Because of this problem, people were anxious whether their vote was registered or not. To increase the voting per centage and to make people feel at ease, different types of arrangements were made at some centres. At Sindhu Mahavidyalaya, the entrance was decorated with rainbow colours that made Vidya Kamble and her transgender friends feel happy. At some places, selfie points were installed where people were seen standing and taking photos. In Nagpur, there is a straight fight between Nitin Gadkari of Bharatiya Janata Partya and Vikas Thakre of Congress. In Ramtek the fight is triangular--Raju Parve of Shiv Sena (Shinde), Shyamkumar Barve of Congress and Independent candidate Kishor Gajbhiye.