Morning rain fails to dampen voters’ spirit; 72.4% turn up for civic by-poll

The residents of ward 7 came out in large numbers to elect their area councillor as the by-poll was held here today. The voting percentage was 72.4 per cent as compared to 71.68 per cent during the municipal election.

The ward comprising of Maloya village and colony witnessed leaders of all parties camping here till the end of polling.

The ward was bustling with activity as people gathered at the polling booths to cast their vote. There were three polling booths in the village and eight in the colony for more than 14,000 voters. The political parties had set up their tents near the polling booths asking people till the last minute to cast vote in their favour. Rainfall in the morning could not dampen the spirit of the voters who ventured out with umbrellas in hand. Gradually the rainfall ended and long queues were witnessed at the polling booths.

There are four candidates in fray in the elections. These included Poonam Sharma from Congress, Bindu Rani from BJP, Seema Yadav from BSP and an independent candidate Sunita. The by-elections were being held after the death of Laxmi Devi, a BJP councillor who died after being seriously injured in an accident.

Much is at stake for the parties in the elections. After the death of Laxmi Devi, the BJP-SAD alliance was reduced from 12 seats in the MC House to 11. Congress also has 11 councillors in the House, BSP has 2 and one is an independent. BJP had been claiming that the mandate of the voters was in their favour in the municipal elections as the alliance had won one more seat than the Congress. Hoping to retain the seat and cashing in on the sympathy factor BJP fielded Laxmi Devi's daughter-in-law in the election. A win in the election would tilt the numbers in the MC House.

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