Braving scorching heat, voters turn out in large numbers

NAGPUR: Bhandara-Gondia seat witnessed brisk polling as usual with district administration putting the voting percentage at around 69%. The candidates were worried whether voters would come out in large numbers in the scorching heat. However, their fears turned out to be unfounded.
The numbers at polling booth had gone down after 12noon. People came out for voting after 4pm in large numbers. Many booths had to function beyond 6pm due to large number of voters waiting for their turn. New voters were seen enthusiastically exercising their franchise. Turjabai Bhandarkar (107) of Khamri village in Tiroda taluka also exercised her franchise.

There are about 18.08 lakh voters in the constituency and 14 candidates are in the fray. Till 11am, the voting percentage was 21.88. It had increased to 38.19% by 1pm and 49.20% by 3pm. The figure at 5pm was around 61%.

Gondia MLA Gopaldas Agrawal and former MLC Rajendra Jain voted in Gondia. Gondia guardian minister Rajkumar Badole voted in Sadak-Arjuni. District collector Kadambari Balkawde exercised her franchise in Fulchur area.

Four grooms first cast their vote and then mounted the horse. Pitambar Jengthe of Indora, Pankaj Tupte of Madeghat, Ashish Dhabale of Wahni and Nepal Talmale of Palandur went to polling booths before their marriage venue. Election officials welcomed them.

Adyal Taluka Nirmiti Kruti Samiti had called for a boycott due to failure of government to create Adyal taluka. Boycott posters were put up in a number of villages. However, the district administration had appealed to villagers to ignore the plea and cast their votes. While members of the Samiti did not vote, other villagers did in large numbers.

VVPATs were used in this constituency for the first time in May 2018 by-poll. At that time, many people were unable to vote due to malfunctioning of these machines. This time, the district administration took special care and used M-3 VVPATs. There were no complaints in this regard.

There were 17,295 new voters in the constituency. A large number of them performed their duty.

The district administration had set up many all woman polling booths in the constituency. They were named ‘Sakhi Matdan Kendra’. To make them attractive, they were embellished with rangolis and coloured paper.

The Vihirgaon polling booth in Mohadi village was decorated with coloured balloons. Seven Sakhi Matdan Kendras were set up in Gondia district. They were at Gondia (2), Tiroda, Amgaon, Goregaon, Arjuni Morgaon and Sadak Arjni (one each).

The district administration had provision for ramps and wheelchairs for handicapped voters. In three assembly segments of Bhandara district, the administration had made arrangements for 286 wheelchairs and 1,071 ramps. Handicapped persons and senior citizens were brought to polling booths on wheelchairs.