Intense heat, coupled with power failure at the fag end of the polling owing to sudden storm and rain resulted in a mere 46.3 per cent of votes being cast in the bypoll to Sarai Pipal Thala ward of North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Sunday. The vote per centage in the ward registered a decline of over 14 per cent votes from the 2012 MCD polls.
A total of 24,739 voters, comprising 13,116 males and 11,623 females cast their votes in the bypoll, said a senior official of the Delhi State Election Commission. The ward has over 53,000 registered voters, he said.
The voting percentage of the ward in the 2012 municipal poll was 60.6 per cent. The bypoll thus saw a decline of over 14 per cent votes this time, the official said.
The voting was affected mildly due to power failure at some of the 57 polling booths because of dust storm and rain in the final hour of polling. “Otherwise, the voting was peaceful,” said the official.
Earlier, the voting started on a slow pace with just 8.59 per cent of the votes cast till 10 am. It may be noted that the polling in Sarai Pipal Thala and Maujpur wards was postponed due to death of candidates there. Voting for the rest 270 wards in three municipal corporations was held on April 23 and the results were announced on April 26.
In Sarai Pipal Thala ward, Samajwadi Party candidate Dinesh Singh had died resulting in the bypoll. His son Himanshu is in the fray from the party.
Sarai Pipal ward is currently held by the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party). The main contenders in the election include Mohammad Sharif (BSP), former leader of Opposition in NDMC Mukesh Goel (Congress), Mangat Ram (Bharatiya Janata Party) and Rajeev Bansal (Aam Aadmi Party). Counting of votes for both the wards will take place on May 23.