Low voter turnout in Surat

Voting percentage was low in civic elections in Surat on Sunday. Though political parties and candidates tried their best to lure voters to the polling booth, there was hardly any enthusiasm amongst the people.

While voting was low in the early hours, it did pick up the momentum in the afternoon. Bogus voting was busted at Udhna, while workers of various political parties got involved in a tussle at few places.

The first two hours of voting - 8 to 10am, saw very low voter turnout at all the 38 wards in the city. In some wards, only 1% voting was recorded, while it was less than 5% in other wards. Only one voter had cast his ballot in ward no1 from 8-10am, which surprised all political parties.

The situation was the same till 12pm and average voting in the city remained less than 15%. Political parties and candidates tried to attract voters to the polling booth but to no avail.

Low turnout tensed top leaders of BJP and Congress, who took a round in all wards, to review the voting trend. There were no long queues at majority of polling booths till 2pm and average voting in the city remained at around 25%.

Voting in the walled city - BJP's strong hold, was totally low during the entire day. Situation at Rander, Adajan, Athwa, Piplod and Ghod-dod road was same, where people came out for voting in less numbers. In Udhna, Pandesara, Limbayat, Bhestan, Bamroli and Majura, voter turn-out was slow in the morning, but it gained momentum after 12pm.

There was low turn-out at Varachha, Katargam, Puna, Simada, Kapodara, Ved-road, Amroli and Kosad as well. Because these wards were committed to BJP, their candidates seemed satisfied with the low voting percentage.

While voters lacked interest, party workers and those posted at slip distributing tables, too seemed uninterested in performing their duties. Workers of all parties including BJP, Congress and MJP stayed away from moving into wards and motivating voters. Workers were spotted at pan-shops and eating stalls, while slip distribution tables were bereft of people.

Barring a few incidents, voting was, by and large, peaceful in the city, with no untoward incident reported. Workers of BJP and Congress got involved in a tussle at few places, but timely intervention by police prevented the situation from turning worse. Bogus voting was busted at ward no 35 by Shiv-Sena workers which tensed the situation for sometime.

The incident came into light after Sena workers nabbed a person identified as Vijay Patil 51, a resident of Chikoowadi in Pandesara, who was casting a bogus vote at a booth in Suman high school.

On investigation, 150 such bogus voters were traced by party, who were standing in the queue to cast their votes. Sena leaders informed police and district officials, who rushed to the spot and prevented all suspected persons from casting their votes.

"Vijay Patil is an elected representative of Parola Taluka Panchayat in Jalgaon district in Maharastra. The address mentioned by him in voting i-card is of Rohini Patil, who is a BJP candidate of ward no 35. This clearly suggests that Patil was brought to Surat, to caste bogus vote," said, Raju Desle, president of Shiv-Sena (Surat).