Voters of different age groups were witnessed standing in long queues since morning at various polling booths in Raipur Road and Rajpur Vidhan Sabha constituencies to exercise their franchise in the lok Sabha election. Women voters also cast their votes in large numbers. First-time voter, 20 year old Saumya said, “I wanted to be part of electoral process and feel happy after voting. I voted for a candidate who I expect will raise State’s issue in the parliament effectively.”
50 year old Poonam Bisht said, “I had voted in several parliamentary and Assembly elections earlier but the victorious candidate never reached the constituency to see the voters’ condition and resolve their grievances. I voted keeping in mind the need for a stable Government at the Centre."
Krishan lal said, “I used None Of The Above (NOTA) option as candidates contesting from Tehri parliamentary constituency are not good. Some parties have encouraged dynastic politics while selecting candidates.”
22 year old college student Srishti said, “I was very excited to vote for the first time. Being a political science student, I analysed profiles of all the candidates before making my choice.”
At some polling booths, the turnout was poor in the morning but picked up later on while at some polling centres, voters arrived even before the start of polling at 7 am.
As per control room report, technical snags in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during mock polling delayed voting for some time at different places including polling booth number 180 in Chakrata, number 109 in Vikasnagar, number 138 in Doiwala, number 57 in Rajpur and number 129 in Rishikesh. The election officer Dr BVRC Purushottam and his wife Udaya Bhaskaram reached Government Girls Inter College, Rajpur Road and cast their votes at the start. later Purushottam and Dehradun SSP Ajay Rautela inspected polling booths at CNI Inter College, Sadhu Ram Inter College, Bannu School, GRD Academy, Hindu National Inter College, ITI Niranjanpur and other places. Rautela also inspected several polling booths at Rishikesh, Vikasnagar, Sahaspur and other places in the district.