NAGPUR: A little over 39% voters exercised their franchise in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) by-polls held for 10 seats on Sunday. Polling was peaceful. Of the total 1,00,122 voters-39,345 (21,889 men and 17,486 women) cast their ballots at 87 polling booths. The counting will be held at the Lakadganj Timber Bhavan on Monday.
The 10 wards where the by-polls were held include Mehandibagh (25), Naik Talao (35), Tandapeth (36), Veterinary College (45), Timki (53), Lendi Talao (55), Bastarwari (56), Maskasath (64), and Mangalwari (73).
Elections in nine wards in North and Central Nagpur were necessitated following the disqualification of Halba community corporators after their caste certificates were found to be invalid. However, a by-election was held in ward 45 due to the death of Congress corporator Dilip Chaudhari.
Though the voting was slow in the morning, it picked up pace in the afternoon. However, it was marginal before the closing hour.
Polling was held amid tight security at the Veterinary College ward that witnessed a four-cornered fight between Congress rebel Kamlesh Choudhari, Jagdish Gwalbanshi of BJP, Deepak Wankhede of Congress and Anil Shingane of BSP. Kamlesh Choudhari, who contested as a Congress-rebel, is the son of former Congress corporator Dilip Choudhari. However, no untoward incidents were reported, a civic official told TOI .
One of the candidates from the same ward alleged that the voters were being influenced by candidates. Officials denied such incidents and said the polling passed off peacefully.
Meanwhile, the polling percentage recorded in all 10 wards is as follows: Mehandibagh (52.90%), Naik Talao (46.70%), Tandapeth (45.20%), Veterinary College (47.55%), Timki (37.85%), Lendi Talao (42.62%), Bastarwari (34.66%), Maskasath (26.15%), Gandhibagh (30.62%) and Old Mangalwari (36.40%).
