Jamshedpur: The bypoll to the Ghatsila assembly constituency has recorded an impressive 74.63% polling till 5 pm on Tuesday. Sharing details of the voting, district electorate officer (DEO) Karn Satyarthi has said the figure could increase when the final voting percentage is announced later.
The DEO informed that voting across the 300 polling booths was held in a free and fair manner. Moreover, there was no report of law and order problems from any of the polling booths across the constituency.
Notably, right from the start of the polling at 7 am, the voters’ enthusiasm was palpable across all booths with 17.33% of voting being recorded in the first two hours of the voting.
Both men and women voters queue at the booths, visibly encouraging the young voters and women in particular, who arrived at the polling stations braving the morning chill.
Sneha Oraon, a young voter at the panchayat sachivalaya pawda gram panchayat booth, said, “Voting is our constitutional right. Therefore, I have arrived at the booth on time.”
At booth numbers 235 and 236, located at the Kendriya Vidyalaya Surda, the long queue of the women voters around 10 am impressed the voting personnel and the candidates equally.
“Over the past two decades, women voters have been casting their votes in overwhelming numbers, and this byelection is no exception to them,” said JMM candidate Somesh Soren’s brother and JMM leader Rupesh.
The eagerness for exercising their franchise among the voters was such that by 1 pm, the voting percentage surpassed 54% and by 3 pm, it was 69.07%.
The DEO said the entire team of the polling parties, comprising polling personnel, security officials, micro-observers, video observers and sector officers, made sure that every vote is polled in a free and fair manner without any trouble to the electorates.
Satyarthi said one ballot unit (BU) and control unit (CU), besides five voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines, were replaced during the polling process.
The DEO has informed that 297 polling teams will submit their electronic voting machines (EVMs) on Tuesday at the receiving centre at the Jamshedpur Cooperative College (JCC), while the remaining EVMs of the three polling stations would be submitted by the respective teams on Wednesday.
“Due to the distant location, the movement of the EVMs of the three booths will be late and arrive at the receiving centre tomorrow (Wednesday),” Satyarthi said.
The DEO further informed that in the bypoll, 31 voters opted for home voting to exercise their franchise, while the voting percentage of the divyang voters was 93.6%.
Besides, the voting percentage of the electorate above 85 years of age was 90.62%.
Moreover, Satyarthi said one FIR was lodged for posting unconstitutional/illegal material on social media, besides another FIR filed on account of the violation of the model code of conduct (MCC).
On the sealing of the strong room at the cooperative college, the DEO said it would be done in accordance with the mandatory guidelines of the EC to ensure the total safety of the EVMs.
Meanwhile, both candidates have claimed that the high turnout of the voters would be in their respective favour.
“High turnout of the voters is a stamp of approval to the popular schemes of the state govt,” JMM candidate Somesh Soren said.
However, BJP candidate Babulal Soren told the media that voter turnout was an indication of the growing disenchantment towards the state govt on issues central to the Adivasis' welfare and development.
Notably, 13 candidates, including a woman candidate, are in the fray in the bypoll.
A total of 2,55,823 electors, including 1,24,899 male voters, 1,30,921 female voters and three third gender voters, were eligible for voting in the by-poll.
The bypoll was necessitated after the untimely death of the sitting MLA and minister, Ramdas Soren, on August 15.
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