Haryana municipal elections see 46.4% voter turnout; Fatehabad records the highest turnout at 85.2%

The polls to 40 municipal bodies, including by-polls to the eight civic bodies, across 18 districts of Haryana recorded a voter turnout of 46.4% till late on Sunday evening.

The final voter turnout was expected to increase marginally with voting still on at 130 polling booths in Faridabad, the largest municipal corporation with 14 lakh voters, at the time of going to the press.

State Election Commissioner, Haryana, Dhanpat Singh told The Hindu over phone that the polls remained by and large peaceful with no reports of violence. “Usually the voting is allowed till 5 p.m., but we gave an extra hour this time for the convenience of the voters. Still, the voters were in queue at a few booths in Faridabad till late in the evening,” said Mr. Singh.

He said the turnout was less than expected and both the commission and the political parties need to put their heads together to look for the reasons and rectify the situation. Mr. Singh, however, added that the average voter turnout did not give the accurate picture since the number of voters across districts varied from 10,000 to 14 lakh.

Among the districts, Fatehabad, with just 14 booths, recorded the highest turnout of 85.2%, and Sonipat registered the lowest turnout of 31%.

Besides the general election to seven municipal corporations — Gurugram, Manesar, Faridabad, Hisar, Karnal, Rohtak and Yamuna Nagar — four municipal councils and 21 municipal committees, by-election to the Mayor’s posts for Ambala and Sonepat municipal corporations and three Presidents and three members to different municipal committees and councils were held on Sunday. The total number of wards that went to polls were around 650.

The Panipat municipal corporation will go to polls on March 9. The counting of votes will take place on March 12.

While the Congress, contesting the municipal polls for the first time, and the Bharatiya Janata Party are caught in a direct contest in most of the municipal bodies, the Chautalas-led parties, the Jannayak Janta Party and the Indian National Lok Dal, stayed away from the polls fielding only a couple of candidates. Caught in internal strife, the Aam Aadmi Party too fielded only three mayoral and six presidential candidates this time, besides 50-odd candidates for various municipal wards.

Political analysts said the lack of contest between the two major parties and voters’ indifference towards Ambala and Sonipat Mayoral by-polls, with a tenure of less than a year left for the two posts, could be two possible reasons for the poor turnout.

(EOM)