MCD polls recorded at 50 per cent amid low turnout, missing names

The complaint submitted by the Delhi Congress said Chaudhary’s name was “intentionally” removed from the electoral roll, but not deleted which points towards “foul play.”

NEW DELHI: Political hype punctuated with tall promises with the underpinning of Delhiites’ tiredness over whom to vote for in the civic body elections marked the city’s Sunday. Voters trudged to the booths as the day wore on, pushing the turnout figures to nearly 50% with the state election authorities still counting, hoping to revise the numbers upwards.

Everything was normal – security, the pink booths, and the usual barrage of allegations between AAP and BJP. Except for one thing: many voters said they had to return as their names were missing from the electoral rolls. One of such disappointed returnees was Delhi Congress chief Anil Kumar Chaudhary.
“My name is neither on the voter list nor on the deleted list. My wife has voted,” Chaudhary said at a polling booth in east Delhi’s Dallupura.

Chaudhary, a former MLA, went to vote at Ward No 193-Kondli in East Delhi and found his name missing from the electoral roll. The complaint submitted by the Delhi Congress said Chaudhary’s name was “intentionally” removed from the electoral roll, but not deleted which points towards “foul play.”

More such complaints came from North-East Delhi and elsewhere. The results will be announced on December 7. “I came here to vote for the first time. I found my name was not mentioned in the list. Officials don’t have a clue. I stood there for some hours but nobody helped me,” said 19-year-old Puneet Kumar.

Delhi BJP MP Manoj Tiwari and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also complained about names missing from the electoral roll. Around 45% turnout was recorded till 4:30 pm while it was 18% till noon, which rose to 30% by 2 pm. In 2017 polls, the turnout was 53%.

The State Election Commission said no untoward incident was reported at any booth and the polling process went on smoothly at all 13,638 polling stations. Sunday’s low turnout came despite all leaders appealing to voters to participate in the exercise in large numbers. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal along with his family reached a ward at Civil lines to vote and urged all voters to vote for a clean and beautiful Delhi. Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta came along with his wife to a polling booth at West Patel Nagar.

Sanitation, maintenance of parks and the lack of parking facilities were some of the issues of concern for women who came out to vote. Among the early voters was 106-year-old Shanti Bala Vaidya at the Deputy Ganj polling station in Bara Hindu Rao area.

There are 229 voters aged 100 and above, and 2,04,301 people aged above 80 but less than 100 years, as per election data. Sixty drones were used especially to maintain law and order in critical or sensitive booths of the national capital. In the 2017 polls, the BJP won 181 of the 270 wards. Polling could not be held on two seats due to the death of candidates. The AAP had won 48 wards and the Congress 27.