HYDERABAD: Though the elections to the two Graduates’ MLC constituencies, held on Sunday, surprised everyone with the steep rise in polling percentage, several booths across Hyderabad witnessed some unusual scenes when many voters walked back without casting votes. While many of them, with much enthusiasm, reached the polling stations on time, long queues were a disappointment for several electors, particularly the youngsters.
In the meantime, polling booths in the suburbs of SR Nagar, Banjara Hills, Erragadda, Yousufguda, Nampally, Abids, and Tolichowki in Hyderabad witnessed a huge rush with the delay in voting. Though about 5,31,268 eligible voters in Hyderabad had enrolled their names, only 52.76 per cent of them exercised franchise on Sunday. With 93 candidates in the fray for the election to Mahbubnagar-Rangareddy-Hyderabad segment, the voters also found it tough to find their candidates in the ballot papers.
Soon after noticing the long queues, many electors who exuberantly made a beeline for casting votes left the polling booths halfway through. “I waited in the queue for almost an hour, and yet could see that the crowd hadn’t moved even an inch further. After noticing that at least 20 people were standing ahead of me in the line, and each one of them would take time to cast their votes, I decided to leave as I had other chores to do,” a voter who had come to exercise franchise at a polling booth in SR Nagar said.
Another voter, Santosh Kumar, 23, said: “I voted for the first time in my life in the 2018 Assembly elections. Then I voted in the GHMC elections and hence, I wanted to cast my ballot this time as well. But, since the queue was not moving any further even after waiting for so much time, I decided to leave.”
“It took me almost an hour to vote,” a person named K Rajeshwar, said. “It was difficult for many voters to find their candidate on the ballot papers, owing to the size of them as there were too many names. Never in my life have I seen such a long candidates list and a huge ballot paper like this,” 58-year-old Rajeshwar added.
Mammoth ballot papers irk a few
With 93 candidates in the fray for the poll to Hyderabad segment, the voters found it difficult to spot their candidates in the ballot papers. “It was difficult for many voters to find their candidate on the ballot papers, owing to the size of them. Never in my life have I seen such a long candidate list,” a 58-year-old voter named K Rajeshwar said