UNITED COLOURS OF DEMOCRACY
Three generations of a family and groom and brides lining up at polling stations and people reaching in bullock carts and centenarians in wheelchairs to vote. These were some of the snapshots of the Lok Sabha election’s Phase 2 in 88 constituencies in 13 states and Union Territories.
In Bengaluru, long queues were seen outside many restaurants after they offered dosas, laddus, coffee and other food items free of cost or at discounted rates to customers who cast their vote.
A polling booth at Sivni village in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker LS seat was decorated like a ‘mandap’ and displayed traditional marriage rituals. Decked-up in traditional attires, many brides and grooms reached polling stations in Kanker, Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund LS constituencies to cast their votes.
Women voters reached a booth in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr on a bullock cart and playing the ‘dholak’.
In Rajasthan's Kota-Bundi parliamentary constituency, 108-year-old Bhuri Bai, who was brought to the Gunjara polling booth in a wheelchair by her family members, cast her vote, while 102-year-old Haji Karamdin voted in Reasi in Jammu and Kashmir. Relatives and family members of voters with disabilities were seen helping them reach poll stations on wheelchairs.
A man, his son and granddaughters, representing three generations, reached a polling station at Sankand in Jalore to cast votes. They also took pictures at the selfie point in the booth.
Google marked the second phase of the Lok Sabha election with a colourful doodle on its homepage celebrating the inked index finger, which signals that a person has voted. There reports of poll boycott by villagers over issues such as lack of basic amenities and development works from Maharashtra’s Parbhani LS constituency, Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura LS constituency and Tripura’s Tripura East LS constituency.
Banjarumale, an interior hamlet in Belthangady taluk of Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district, recorded 100 per cent voting. The hamlet has 111 voters and each one of them turned up at the only polling booth, completing voting two hours before polling ended at 6pm.
EVMs were damaged at a polling station in Indiganatha village in Chamarajanagara district during a clash between two groups of people over whether to vote or not in the elections.
Manipal Hospitals Group assisted 41 in-patients cast their vote, with the help of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. The hospital administration put its ambulance service into action.
Green corridors were created across constituencies to ensure easy and hassle-free voting.
Nearly 150 passengers, including electors, heading to Assam’s Barak Valley to cast votes were stranded due to the derailment of a train engine. Services were restored.
To promote traditional hand-woven silk clothing of Chamarajanagar, 8 woman poll officers wore especially designed saris to polling stations. The saris also sported “Chunavana Parva-Deshada Garva” (festival of election is the country’s pride).