Polling unlocked: Voter apathy, low turnout continue to dog Old City

Hyderabad: Another low voting turnout was observed in Hyderabad parliamentary constituency, which recorded less than 50 per cent. Hyderabadis once again choose not to cast their vote in large numbers on Monday during the Lok Sabha elections. The Hyderabad constituency recorded an abysmal 39.17% voting till 5 pm.

The full-fledged campaigning by political party candidates and seeking votes in their favour did not seem to match the expectations. The polling booths in different parts of Hyderabad’s Old City looked deserted and the polling percentage remained low. Even this time as compared to previously held Assembly elections 2023, most of the polling stations remained deserted, while some booths witnessed voters and queues.

Compared with voters enthusiastically attending the election campaigns, corner meetings and public meetings, the buzz has been missing on the polling day, as voters did not come out to exercise their franchise. Though several people took initiative and knocked the gates and doors of residents to come out and cast their vote, voting percentage in Hyderabad’s Old City remained at less than 50%.

Despite the announcement in mosques and city scholars appealing to cast votes, people did not turn up. Moreover, no voter slips, deleted and missing names in the voters’ list were also the reasons for the low percentage. An activist S Q Masood said his name was also deleted from the electoral rolls without notice and he claimed that over 2.68 lakh voters were deleted in Hyderabad.

According to the State Election Commission, the total percentage of voting in the Hyderabad Lok Sabha was 39.17 (approx.) per cent by 5 pm. The voting percentage in Bahadurpura stand at lowest with 34.19% votes, followed by Malakpet with 37.87%, Charminar (38%), Chandrayangutta (38.24%), Karwan (40.57%), Yakutpura (41.30%) and highest was Goshamahal with 44.05%. The turnout figures are preliminary estimates and the final figures will be known as earliest, said the election officials.

In 2018, Hyderabad seat recorded 44.84% and 53.30% in 2014. Compared with the previous Lok Sabha elections, this year too, the voting percentage sharply declined.

A voter of Ramnasthpura in Bahadurpura, Abdul Rafeeq, along with his wife, went to cast his vote around 11.45 am. He was able to complete the process in less than five minutes on account of the low turnout. “We went to the polling station in a government school.

There were not more than five or six people. It took us just a couple of minutes,” he said. K Venkatesh, another voter in Lal Darwaza said throughout the day electors came and cast their votes without any hurdles as there were no queues.

AIMIM chief and candidate Asaduddin Owaisi visited various polling booths in the segment along with the party legislators in all seven divisions. In Jahanumaarea, Asad was seen helping an elderly voter to get on his bike.

The BJP Hyderabad candidate K Madhavi Latha courted controversy after she was seen checking the identity documents of burqa-clad women at a polling booth in Azampura, Malakpet and asking them to lift their veil. Two cases were booked against her in Malakpet and Mangalhat police stations. Malakpet police booked a case under sections 171C, 186, 505(1)(c) of IPC and Section 132 of the Representation of the People Act.Tension was palpable in Moghalpura area with this incident. Madhavi Latha and MIM party workers exchanged expletives, and there was a clash between them. Later, a police officer controlled the situation.

It was alleged that Madhavi Latha had obstructed polling and was arguing with Muslim women voters during her visits to polling booths. A senior police officer at Mangalhat police said that they booked a case against Madhavi Latha and her followers for using dummy electronic voting machines (EVMs) to manipulate voters in the locality. Police said they initially took two BJP workers into custody for manipulating the voters with fake EVMs. However, Madhavi Latha reached the police station and managed to free the men and also take away the seized dummy EVMs.

With sweltering heat observed throughout the day, M Balaiah, a home guard who was deputed at Imam Baksh School at Yakutpura, fell down and was severely injured. South East zone Task force Inspector Chitti Burra and others admitted the Home guard at a private hospital.