Lok Sabha by-election: Polling in Dimapur peaceful; 68% turnout

Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, May 28 (EMN): Voting in Dimapur for Nagaland’s lone Lok Sabha seat was held peacefully but with only 68% turnout compared to the 88.25% that was registered in 2014.

Comparing to the assembly elections that was held in February this year, voters’ participation in the by-polls was drastically low. Most polling stations in Dimapur bore a deserted look.

The deputy commissioner (DC) of Dimapur, Sushil Kumar Patel told Eastern Mirror that the people took the previous assembly election rather seriously comparing to the Lok Sabha by-election. He added that the heavy rainfall in the morning was another reason why voters did not turn out as expected.

Patel informed that 26 polling stations were managed by women. He mentioned that 17 Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were replaced before the mock poll. Six VVPAT were replaced later on. “Few errors popped up also and accordingly the sector officer corrected them.”

The DC added that there shall be only one counting hall, unlike the previous assembly election’s vote counting process. The counted votes will be compiled at the commissioner’s level, while the returning officer will declare the results.

Some dobashis shared their views about the low turnout of voters in the district. According to them, the citizens give “more interest” to assembly election candidates than Member of Parliament (MP) candidates.

They were of the opinion that people have a tendency to assume that an MP would not do anything for the state. Adding to which, they said, the ‘MP candidate will neither look into the welfare of the people nor into grass root level development.’

“People have lost their trust in their leaders and the leaders must refine themselves to win back the trust of the people,” a dobashi added.

However some citizens were of the view that the low voter participation was because ‘people are running after money.’ “The MP election is of paramount importance and one should not undermine its significance,” a citizen of Dimapur commented.

A council member at PWD colony said that there was no “co-relation between the candidate and public” in response to why the turnout was so low at their polling stations. “The public does not know what the Member of Parliament is bringing to the state; we never see MPs when parliament is also in session,” said the member adding that the MPs should leave “imprints on rocks and not on sand.”

It was also informed that booth level officers at some polling stations did not collect even 30% of the voter slips.

Rains during the first hour of polling in Naharbari and Purana Bazaar areas along the National Highway 39 resulted in low turnout of voters but slowly picked up by 9:30 am.

The police informed that 1800 police personnel from the centre besides the state’s force were deployed in Dimapur.