Over 70 per cent polling was reported till 5 pm for Bhagwanpur Assembly bypoll held on Saturday. Braving the scorching heat, the voters were seen standing in long queues at the booths to exercise their franchise. The officials said the turnout stands at around 74 per cent. “About 74.15 per cent male voters casted their votes while the figure for the female voters stood at 73.70 per cent by 5 pm,” said Haridwar DM and election officer Harish Chandra Semwal while talking to The Pioneer. Polling began at 8 am and continued till 5 pm. No untoward incident has been reported. Though voting started briskly in the morning, it slowed down at noon due to the blistering sun. The turnout, however, picked up in the evening.
At many booths, long queues were seen with the women outnumbering the men. However, level of enthusiasm was maximum among the youths — mainly the first- time voters. Those who had entered the polling booth before 5 pm were allowed to vote in the polling booths. Canvassing for votes around 200 metres away from the polling booths by the supports of different political parties and independent candidates was noticed too at different booths.
The administration made elaborate arrangements at polling booths to ensure glitch-free polling. Adequate police forces were seen manning the voting process at all the polling booths. The Haridwar DM and SSP Sweety Aggarwal started inspection of the booths from the morning and took stock of security arrangements from zonal in-charges and sector in-charges.
A platoon of PAC jawans, half section of Central forces and quick response team accompanied the DM. The polling officers were directed not to leave their polling stations until polling ended. The constituency has around 1.10 lakh voters. A total of 15 polling booths were developed as model booths and were equipped with all the basic facilities for the Bhagwan Assembly by-poll for the first time. Polling at eight booths was telecasted live. A total of 36 polling booths were demarcated as ultra sensitive and 21 as sensitive and adequate police forces were deployed there to ensure peaceful polling process.