EVM disruptions, delays mar Panipat civic body polls

Panipat: The total voting percentage in Panipat civic body elections was merely 50.1%, with only 2,06,128 of the total 4,11,038 voters in Panipat exercising their franchise. Amidst the polling for civic elections in Panipat, multiple shops in Insar and Chaura Bazar remained open despite strict guidelines from deputy commissioner Vijay Dahiya. Consequently, the superintendent of police directed police teams to raid the respective markets, shut the open shops, and detain the guilty shopkeepers.
Panipat's voting percentage to be record-breaking: Komal Saini
Four candidates, in total, are in the race for the mayor post, including Komal Saini from BJP, Savita Gang from Congress, Preetpal Kheda from AAP, and an independent candidate, Kewal Singh, while 103 are contesting from twenty-six wards in Panipat for the Municipal Council title.
BJP mayor candidate Komal Saini cast her vote along with her family on Sunday morning. She mentioned, "The residents of Panipat are excited for the voting; hence the voting percentage will turn out to be record-breaking."
Polling begins 2 hrs late
The election began two hours late at Saundhapur village's polling booth due to disruption in EVM. Later, DC Virender Kumar Dahiya and SP Lokender Singh inspected the polling station to examine all the arrangements.
Another technical flaw was observed in an EVM at Ward-4 during the mock poll in the morning. An alternative machine was ordered to resolev the issue.
Just as the polling initiated, an EVM got damaged in Ward-14; hence the voting was stopped. Not just this, one more EVM showed some technical complexity at Booth No. 256 meant for mayor candidate voting. The voters got upset due to the delay and left without casting their votes.
Voter's name missing from list
Naresh Dhingra, a voter in Ward-4, shared, "I came to vote for the desired candidate, but the machine was not functioning properly, which was further replaced. Even the replaced machine did not work properly, showing no light upon pressing any button. It will be changed again for the third time now. The polling agents have a list of about a thousand voters which lack the names of new voters. Many excited youngsters wanted to use their power of vote for the very first time, but they returned to their houses being upset."
Another voter, Prince, said he voted in recent assembly elections, but he is no longer able to cast his vote this time due to ward delimitation, also the reason for delayed civic body elections in Panipat.
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