Polling was reported to be largely peaceful in Payal and Doraha on Tuesday. Payal recorded an 80.10 per cent of voter turnout while in Doraha 69.43 per cent of voters exercised their right to vote. The voters as well as the supporters, both in Doraha and Payal, opined that arrangements were proper and polling process was smooth, with no major issues reported.
“The arrangements were in place and everything went smoothly,” said a voter outside booth in Doraha. A verbal spat is however said to have taken place between the local MLA and a journalist covering the elections. The journalist alleged that the local MLA misbehaved with him during coverage. MLA Manwinder Singh Giaspura, however, denied the charge, saying he had not done anything wrong and that he would not tolerate “nuisance” in his area.
Former Congress MLA Lakhvir Singh Lakha alleged that Giaspura was visiting polling booths without any reason. He also alleged of wrong voting at one of the booths.
Some of the voters, especially the senior citizens, found voting through ballot paper time consuming, exhausting and tedious.
“Unlike EVMs, the paper-ballot process involves a six-step exercise — identity verification by the polling agent, check by the polling officer, issuance of slip, inking of finger, signing and stamping the ballot and finally dropping it in the box. It took me 12 to 15 minutes to complete the entire process. In the meantime, the ones behind me had to wait in heat,” said 80-year-old Usha Rani in Doraha’s Ward 11.
First time voter Sukhmannat Kaur said, “It is my first voting experience. I have had such a wonderful feeling for the first time as we had been learning about a democratic set up. I experienced it today for the first time. Everything was transparent and in place. In my opinion, everyone should exercise their right to vote so that they are able to draw a complete analysis of the public mood.”
Payal SDM-cum-Returning Officer Preet Inder Singh Bains when contacted said that the entire voting process was very peaceful and that no cases of booth capturing or any sort of anti-social indulgence from any side was reported.
“I had issued special instructions to the polling staff that each voter, standing in the queue, even at the time of culmination, must be entertained even if it meant continuing the process beyond the specified time,” the SDM added.
Similarly, Doraha Returning Officer Nirpal Singh told that the entire voting passed peacefully. “In some of the wards, initially, the voters seemed to be less enthusiastic and the pace seemed to be comparatively slow, which however picked up in the later part of the day,” added the SDM.
Meanwhile, elaborate security arrangements were in place for the Doraha and Payal municipal council elections under the supervision of Khanna SSP Darpan Ahluwalia.
SHO Doraha Akash Dutt admonished a number of people found loitering within 200 metres of polling booths.
Ahluwalia, who visited sensitive and hyper-sensitive booths in Payal and Doraha, said that troublemakers were identified from time to time and social media was also being monitored. The SSP, while thanking the voters for their assistance, shared that the security arrangements were complete and voting was carried out in a proper manner.
