JOIN USElections in the peak of summer prompted most voters in the City to cast their votes early in the morning. People queued up in hundreds at the polling centres as early as 7 am and the rush extended up to noon. The crowd grew thinner in the afternoon, but the voting picked up again after 4 pm.
In general, a considerable number of senior citizens were found at the poll centres while there were a few youngsters.
Though various parties have fielded candidates from Bangalore South, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, it was only the Congress and BJP workers who were seen in large numbers near the polling stations across the City as well as on the outskirts. The AAP and JD(S) activists were spotted only at some booths.
While canvassing within 100 metres of polling booths was banned, several BJP and Congress workers who had set up help desks near the booths were seen soliciting votes for their respective parties.
At several booths in Bangalore South, BJP workers were clad in saffron T-shirts with green collars, sporting caps with party colours. This was being done to draw voter attention.
The help desks of the Congress and BJP displayed banners of their candidates, Nandan Nilekani and H N Ananth Kumar, respectively. Several volunteers from the two parties were equipped with laptops and data cards, to help voters find their names in the voters’ list in a jiffy.
Meanwhile, in Bangalore North, there were some technical glitches in the EVMs. At Impact College in Byatarayanapura, the EVM stopped working for 30 minutes and people had to bear with a long wait for their turn to vote.
Several people had not received their voters’ slip too. People crowded around polling stations searching for their names in the list. Without a choice, they had to take the help of party desks. In Thanisandra Government Higher Primary School, there were 16 booths.
The entire neighbourhood was crowded with people and the place resembled a fair venue. There were help desks on the footpath, in front of shops.
The outskirts of the City, which fall under Bangalore Rural, Central and Bangalore North constituencies, saw heavy turnout, despite the sizzling sun. In comparison, Gandhinagar and surrounding areas in the City centre saw lesser turnout.
At Mandur, one of the sites where the City’s garbage is dumped, there were hardly any people who had come to cast their votes. On the contrary, a large number of people had turned up at the Government School at Hoodi near Whitefield, the City’s IT hub.