LUCKNOW: Amid the hue and cry over the low voter turnout across the country, voters in at least three villages in Lalitpur district under the Jhansi Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh achieved a rare feat by recording 100 per cent turnout in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Monday.
Jhansi recorded an overall voter turnout of 63.70 per cent. The three villages are Saulda, Bahmaura Nagal and Budni Narahat.
The voting started at 7 am and by 12 pm, the only polling booth number 277 in Saulda village recorded 100 per cent voter turnout. Saulda is a tribal village with a total electorate of 375 including 198 men and 177 women, under the Mehrauni assembly constituency of the Jhansi Lok Sabha seat.
As per sources, the Lalitpur district administration walked an extra mile, with Lalitpur DM Akshay Tripathi buying air tickets for two people working in Bengaluru till Bhopal from his own pocket. From Bhopal, the DM got them ferried to Saulda village by a state government vehicle.
Saulda village head Shri Bai said that people of the village were made aware about the significance of exercising their franchise.
"Villagers responded and a 100 percent voting percentage was recorded. It is due to the tireless efforts and initiative of our Block Development Officer (BDO) Saurabh Burnwal that arrangements were made to bring home two labourers from Bengaluru and 30 from Indore by flight and bus respectively. The DM spent Rs 18,000 from his own pocket to get the voters to the village," Bai said.
Similarly, the other two villages Bahmaura Nagal and Budni Narahat voted cent per cent. While Bahmaura Nagal has 441 voters including 235 males and 206 females, Budni Narahat has total 215 voters including 116 males and 99 females.
Commending the turnout figure, Jhansi Commissioner Vimal Kumar Dubey appreciated the efforts of Lalitpur District Magistrate, village head and BDO. Chief Development Officer Kamalakant Pandey praised BDO Saurabh Burnwal for making efforts to achieve the feat.
In the Jhansi Lok Sabha seat, the contest is between the BJP's Anurag Sharma, Congress candidate Pradeep Jain and the BSP's Ravi Kushwaha. Ten candidates are in the fray.
