Polling for elections to the Rewari Municipal Council, Dharuhera Municipal Committee and byelections for Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in Rewari and Mahendragarh districts was conducted peacefully on Sunday amid tight security arrangements.
Voting started sluggishly in the morning but picked up pace as the day progressed. Long queues of voters were seen at many polling booths and some booths even had voters waiting until closing time.
Rewari Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Electoral Officer Abhishek Meena and Superintendent of Police Hemendra Kumar Meena visited several polling stations to inspect the arrangements.
Apart from maintaining law and order, police personnel deployed at polling booths assisted elderly voters and those with disabilities. Following directions from the SP, officials also provided wheelchairs to voters in need.
Meanwhile, leaders of both the BJP and Congress predicted victory for their respective candidates.
“The BJP candidates will win the posts of chairperson of Rewari Municipal Council, president of Dharuhera Municipal Committee and other contested positions,” asserted BJP MLA from Rewari, Laxman Singh Yadav.
Countering this claim, former Congress MLA from Rewari, Chiranjeev Rao, said that Congress candidates would emerge victorious in all the aforementioned posts.
He alleged that the ruling party was attempting to influence the elections through misuse of administrative machinery. Rao claimed that several women voters in Dharuhera were allegedly told at polling booths that their votes had already been cast.
Terming the matter extremely serious, he said it raised questions about the fairness of the election process.
Former Haryana minister and senior Congress leader Capt Ajay Singh Yadav also criticised the conduct of elections in Rewari and Dharuhera, alleging open misuse of money and power. He claimed that Congress workers were being pressured and harassed by the local administration and police.
“Misuse of government and constitutional institutions poses a serious threat to democracy and goes against democratic values,” he stated.
