61 pc voters turn out for M’wada Grad Constituency polls; 35 candidates'' fate sealed in ballot boxes

Aurangabad, Dec 1:

The fate of 35 candidates in Marathwada Graduates Constituency election was sealed in ballot boxes on Tuesday. The elections were held smoothly on all the booths in eight districts except few stray incidents. Over 3.73 lakh voters were registered while nearly 61.5 per cent (2.23 lakh) of them exercised their franchise.

There were long queues of voters at different polling booths of the district including Godavari School, Aurangabad Municipal Corporation School at N-11, St John English School and Government College of Arts and Science. The voting began at 8 am, with a low turn out of votes at the centres. The voters rush increased from 9 am onwards. BJP candidate Shirish Boralkar, MLA Atul Save and other leaders visited the booths. The graduates were holding documents Aadhar Card, driving license, PAN card, the ID issued by Central or State Governments or local self Government bodies as identity proof in the queue. Nearly 10.5 per cent voting was recorded around 10.45 am in the region while it rose to 20.73 pc voting by 12 noon.

The fate of 35 candidates including Maha Vikas Aghadi candidate Satish Chavan, BJP candidate Shirish Boralkar, Abdul Rauf (SP), Kunal Kharat (AIMIM), Sachin Dhavle (Prahar Janshakti Party), Sachin Nikam (Republican Sena), Ramesh Pokle, Krishna Doiphode, Dr Vilas Jagdale and Sanjay Tayde (all Independents) was sealed in the ballot boxes today. There was tight police bandobast at each booth. The ballot boxes were being brought to the strong room at Marathwada Realtors Pvt Ltd, opposite Kalagram in Chikalthana area till midnight. The counting will be held at Marathwada Realtors company on December 3.

This was the first election in COVID 19 situation. No one was allowed to enter the booth without a mask. The health staff was wearing hand-gloves, were checking temperature and spraying sanitiser on voters hands as part of precautionary measures. Marking was done at each booths to maintain social distancing. First-time health employees were appointed on each booth. There was no entry for children inside the booth. Female staff were deployed in the booth premises to take their care. Deputy Director of Health Dr Swapnil Lale said that the health department took all measures in the election on the line of examinations.District civil surgeon visited different booths to monitor the measures. The administration took all safety measures at the booths taking into Novel coronavirus situation. As many as 6,000 officers and employees at the polling booths in eight districts of the region.The administration made available thousands of bottles of santister, hundreds of masks, hand gloves and face shields, soaps, bio-waste bags, disposal cups, 330 pulse oxymeter and 1300 thermal guns at the booths. There were 937 micro observers for these booths.