65.15 per cent turnout

Much to the satisfaction of the State Election Commission (SEC), Jharkhand this time recorded 65.15 per cent voting during the municipal elections on Monday, 2 per cent more than the last civic polls in 2013.

Talking to mediapersons at the Commission office, Commissioner NN Pandey said that barring few trivial issues, no serious incident related to law and order occurred and polling process was completed peacefully all over the State.

“2 per cent rise in voting percentage compared to the last year is a major achievement, which may further get increased after final figures from all districts come to us. Efforts made by the district administration for conducting free and fair polls made a positive impact on the people which ultimately made voters to come out of their homes and take part in the democratic process,” said Pandey. He also attributed the voting hike to decision of the State Government to conduct Municipal Polls on party lines.

“Polling percentage recorded during 2013 municipal elections was 63.17 per cent, while this year it was recorded to be 65.15 per cent, approximately 2 per cent more than the last time,” said the State Election Commissioner.

Remarkably, Ranchi, which recorded the lowest voting percentage in the State, has also registered a steep rise in polling percentage of 49.3 per cent this time against 34.13 per cent last time, he added.

Interestingly, maximum voting turnout of 76.69 per cent was recorded in Basukinath Nagar Panchayat against 76.09 per cent last time.

Meanwhile, on the complaints received by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha against printing defects in the EVM at Kapali Municipal Council in Saraikela- Kharsawan, the State Election Commission immediately cancelled the election for which fresh dates will be announced later.

Referring to the problems related to changing of polling booths for some people and division of families in different wards, the Commissioner attributed it to the delimitation of wards reducing it to 53 from 55.

 “We had to face problems due to delimitation of wards; still such problems related to booth change, were attended on the helpline numbers provided by the district administration providing proper assistance to the people to vote” said Pandey. Proper assistance was also given to former Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who cast his vote on his booth,” he added.

Pandey congratulated all DCs and their teams for conducting peaceful polling in the State.