Just over a half of Pune comes out to vote this time

The fate of 1,181 candidates contesting the Pune Municipal Corporation elections and 824 candidates contesting the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation elections was sealed in the EVMs on Thursday.

The average turnout in Pune was about 51%, while in Pimpri-Chinchwad, it was around 53%. The voters' turnout in Pune dropped marginally as compared to the last elections for both the civic bodies. In 2007 civic polls, the turnout for PMC elections was 52.72%, while for PCMC polls, it was 56.66%. The drop in voters' turnout was despite the awareness being created by the civic body and various NGOs. Team Anna had also campaigned hard before the polls.

In fact, this is lowest turnout in the history of Pimpri-Chinchwad. Confusion about the polling stations and absence of names in the voters’ list were some of the reasons for the low turnout.

In some cases, members of the same family were allocated different polling stations.

In Pune, the average voter turnout over the first two hours of opening of the polls was only 7.27%. It rose to 15.22% at 11.30 am and 29.5% at 3.30 pm. By 4.30 pm, around 41.4% polling was reported.

Steady flow of voters was witnessed at polling stations in Pimpri-Chinchwad too. A total of 93,705 (8.13%) voters had caste their votes till 9.30 pm. The turnout rose to 23% by 11.30 am, further to 36.53% by 1.30 pm and 41.84% by 3.30 pm.

Brisk voting was reported from the slum areas since morning. However, in middle-class dominated and upmarket areas, the voter turnout was generally lean. Nagpur Chawl area, which has a dominating slum population, recorded around 45% turnout by 1.30 pm as against only 18% in upmarket Kalyaninagar area.

Areas under Hadapsar ward office recorded the highest (54.80%) polling, while the voter turnout was lowest (45.50%) in areas under Nagar Road ward office such as Kalyaninagar, Viman Nagar, Chandan Nagar, Kharadi and Khese Colony.

The introduction of panel system and 50% reservation for women were the unique features for these polls. More than 400 women candidates were in the fray in Pune, while were contesting from Pimpri-Chinchwad.