73% polling in HP, many Covid patients cast vote
The voting, held for 50 urban local bodies, will decide the fate of 1,196 candidates from 401 wards
SHIMLA : The polls to urban local bodies ( ULBS), including 29 municipal councils and 21 nagar panchayats, registered over 73% voter turnout on Sunday. The polling remained peaceful and was held amid tight security.
The voting, held for a total of 50 ULBS, will decide the fate of 1,196 candidates from 401 wards.
Thirteen wards elected their representatives unanimously. Nine candidates were elected unopposed in urban local bodies of Shimla district whereas two candidates were elected in Una and one each in Kangra and Solan.
People in two wards of Karsog and Ner Chowk boycotted the elections. About 73% voting was recorded in the ULBS till 5 pm. The data may change as polling percentage is still being compiled, said Sanjeev Mahajan, state electoral officer.
Polling, held across 441 booths, by and large, remained peaceful. ULBS in Una district recorded 73.2% while Kangra recorded 72.69% and Bilaspur 70.20%. Shimla recorded the lowest polling at 62.40% followed by Mandi where 63.59% voters exercised their franchise.
The highest 90.9% voting was recorded in Narkanda civic body of Shimla district.
Polling at some booths was still going on. Special arrangements were made for Covid-19 infected voters who exercised their franchise after 4 pm. Around 70 Covid- 19 positive elector exercised their franchise in different ULBS.
Counting of votes has started and the results are expected by late evening.
Though the ULB elections are not held on party symbol ruling BJP and opposition Congress are looking at winning the maximum number of seats to galvanise the party cadres for upcoming Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) elections.
The elections hold importance as it will reflect the mood of voters before the 2022 assembly elections.
Meanwhile, initial trends show BJP in leading position. BJP claimed to have won in Shahpur, Jogindernagar and Nalagarh while results of other ULBS were awaited.
69.77% polling in Hamirpur district
About 69.77% of voters exercised their right of franchise for the four local bodies of the district for which elections were held today.
The polling started at 8 am at almost all places except in two wards where several voters had gathered at a time but could not vote due to rush and had to be accommodated resulting in a delay in the closing of the voting there.
Three persons suffering from Covid-19 also cast their votes in Hamirpur.
Bhota Kaswa Nagar panchayat topped with 83.77% polling followed by Nadaun Nagar panchayat with 81.62%, Sujanpur Nagar parishad 74.31% and Hamirpur 63.35 %.
Interestingly, women voters once again proved their supremacy and voted in large numbers as compared to their men counterparts. Long queues of women voters were the main feature of the election that started on a dull note due to foggy and inclement weather but became brisk once the sun appeared.
At many polling stations of Hamirpur and Sujanpur, the voters complained about their names being missing from the voter lists.