Hyderabad: Poor voter turnout in Old City

Hyderabad : Has the aura of AIMIM taken a dent in the Old City? If the low poll percentage is any indication, it appears so because despite full-fledged high-octane campaign by the MIM, particularly by the two Owaisi brothers and candidates of other parties, the voter turnout has been only 30%.

According to the State Election Commission, the total percentage of voting in the Hyderabad district was 39 (approx) by 5 pm. The poll percentage in Yakutpura stands at the lowest with 27.87% votes, followed by Nampally 32.4%, Charminar 34.02%, Malakpet 36.9%, Chandrayanagutta 39%, Bahadurpura 39.11% and the highest being in Karwan with 40.49%.

The buzz of the election has been missing which resulted into a low voting percentage and many voters did not come out from the houses to exercise their votes.

The polling booths in different parts of the Old City wore a deserted look compared to previous elections, most of the polling stations remained deserted. Only a few booths witnessed some voters and queues.

Despite awareness campaign by the election authorities, public representatives, candidates and police on polling day to cast their vote, the people residing in areas like Malakpet, Nampally, Uppuguda, Riyasath Nagar, Santosh Nagar, Rakshapuram, Edi Bazar, Bhavani Nagar, Yakutpura, Azampura, Chawni and other areas chose to remain indoors.

The other parts of the Old City like Moghalpura, Shalibanda, Chandrayangutta, Kanchanbagh, Jangammet, Gowlipura, Talabchanchalam, Kurmaguda, Ramanastpura, Puranapul and other surrounding areas witnessed medium voting.

A voter of Salam Chowk, Shaik Samad, along with his wife, went to cast his vote around 9.30 am. He was able to complete the process in less than five minutes on account of low turnout at the booth. “We went to the polling station in Government School. There were not more than four people. It took us just a couple of minutes,” he said.

As usual, there was a clash of political parties at many polling stations. Tension was palpable in different areas with either polling agents levelling allegations of bogus voting, or party workers exchanging expletives. There was a clash between MIM and MBT at a polling booth in Talabkatta area. A police officer later controlled the situation and detained MBT Yakutpura candidate Amjedullah Khan and MIM worker Yaser Arafat.

Amjedullah Khan alleged that there was bogus voting in full swing in Yakutpura segment. Party workers were distributing voter slips with party symbols printed on it. Moreover, he alleged that the police are hand in glove with the ruling party. “Miscreants are removing ink from voters’ fingers and bogus voting is proceeding at Rasheedia Function Hall near Yakutpura Railway Station, polling station 164,” he alleged.

The Dabeerpura police arrested two party workers for distributing voter slips with MIM symbols in Chanchalguda under the Malakpet constituency.

In the meantime, tension prevailed in Nampally following a quarrel between MIM and Congress workers. The tension began after Congress candidate Feroz Khan lodged a complaint with the police, alleging that MIM workers were indulging in bogus voting. Following the complaint, the police detained some individuals. Later, MIM Nampally candidate Majid Hussain was also detained.

In Charminar, the Hussaini Alam Police arrested MIM and Congress workers allegedly involved in a clash. Police shifted injured individuals, including Congress Charminar candidate Mujeebullah Shareef, in a patrol car to a nearby hospital.