Western UP turns out in big numbers to cast vote

In Ghaziabad and Noida, urban voters along with their village counterparts participated enthusiastically to cast their votes.
 
“I have recently build a house in Morti Village and is a first-time voter from this constituency, but I have brought my entire family along with me as I have been regularly exercising my franchise,” said 60-year-old Ramkumar Pandey.
 
Morti, just like many other villages in Sahibabad and Ghaziabad assembly constituencies, is nestled alongside upcoming residential localities like Raj Nagar Extension and others.
 
It had around 1,600 eligible voters, of which majority exercised their franchise before noon. In other largely urban residential localities of Vaishali, Vasundhara and Indirapuram polling was brisk since morning and picked up pace as the day progressed.
 
“I never imagined that the morning crowd would be so heavy, otherwise I would have planned properly,” said the owner of a sweetmeat shop situated right at the opening of the lane which lead to Booth number 833 at the Government Primary School, Noor Nagar.
 
At Sector 52 Community Centre near Noida’s City Centre metro station, where a large chunk of the voters from the upscale neighbourhood of Noida had turned up to cast their ballot, the atmosphere was like a picnic. The February sun and the gentle breeze ensured voters had one less excuse to offer for not going out to vote.
 
Indeed, people had started trooping in right when polling started at 7.00 am, said one of the three police personnel deployed at the entrance.
 
Ajit Dhyani, 67 and an ex-government of India employee who had recently tripped and fallen while on his morning walk, limped in with a walker for support, and his wife and daughter-in-law for company.
 
The kids used the occasion to play some sort of catch-me-if-you-can game on the huge Noida community centre ground, while the older members of their families went through the voter lists that the three polling volunteers had spread out on a table in front of them. A gentleman in his early 50s appeared at his wit’s end because he had just discovered that while he could still cast his ballot, some people had already taken the photocopy of his voter slip, signed on the registration list, and cast the votes for his wife and daughter.
 
One of the volunteers sitting nearby gave him a number to call and register a complaint, and urged us to proceed to the room where we had to cast our vote.