Poor voter turnout marks Rae Bareli LS bypoll

Rae Bareli, May 8: Nearly 42.6 per cent of the voters today exercised their franchise in the byelection for the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat, for which Congress President Sonia Gandhi is seeking re-election.

Polling in the high-profile constituency, which began on a brisk note in the morning, however, lost steam by afternoon.

The Election Commission had increased the poll timings by an hour.

The poll turnout was less than the 2004 general elections when Ms Gandhi was elected from the seat for the first time.

In the 2004 polls, the voter turnout was 48 per cent. The Congress had been trying for a higher voter turnout to ensure Ms Gandhi's election by a record margin. Last time, Ms Gandhi had won by a around 2,49,000 votes.

While the polling process remained by-and-large peaceful, a ruling Samajwadi Party leader was shot at. While the local SP leadership termed the incident as poll-related, the state Home Department in Lucknow denied.

SP state executive member Jaishanker Vajpayee was shot in his left arm by three armed men at the Indira Nehar Pullia.

SP claimed that Mr Vajpayee, along with another party leader Dinesh Singh had caught a few outsiders campaigning for the Congress. But the Home Department said the incident was not related to elections.

Meanwhile, the Congress and the SP traded charges of booth rigging.

Since morning, voters, including several women, had lined up outside polling booths an hour before the polling process began at 0700 hrs.

Most voters claimed they wanted to exercise franchise before noon to avoid heat. ''But it seems the heat took its toll on the voting percentage,'' said a district administration official here.

During the first four hours, over 8 per cent of the electorate had cast their votes.

There are a total of 13,61,411 voters in the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency. Women voters account for a little less then 50 per cent of the electorate.

Other prominent candidates in fray include BJP's Vinay Katiyar, SP's Rajkumar Chaudhury and Apna Dal's Prabha Singh Lodh. Ms Lodh is former Madhay Pradesh Chief minister Uma Bharti's candidate contesting on an Apna Dal ticket.

Ms Vadra alleged bogus votes were cast at a polling booth in Maharajganj area of the constituency.

She had since lodged a complaint with the election observer blaming a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) for the episode. An SDM from Mohanlalganj (Lucknow) is posted as in-charge of Maharajganj.

The SP too alleged that Ms Priyanka Vadra was influencing voters even as ''Congressmen accompanying her were indulging in rigging in the Lok Sabha byelection.'' Mr Beni Prasad Verma, SP leader and father-in-law of the party candidate in the constituency Raj Kumar Chaudhury, talking to reporters alleged that Ms Vadra was moving in a motorcade of 12 vehicles to influence voters. ''The 80 men travelling with her are rigging booths,'' he said.

SP MLC and state unit president Ram Sharan Das faxed a written complaint to the Election Commission in this regard.

Mr Verma alleged that presiding officer at booth number 78 at Mainpuri was casting fake votes in favour of Ms Gandhi along with other members of his staff.

The SP also lashed out at Rae Bareli SP and district magistrate/returning officer for not carrying out their duties in an impartial manner.

''They are IPS and IAS officers...they can be influenced by the Department of Personnel in the union government.'' Meanwhile, Rae Bareli police chief B D Paulson told reporters that police have placed about 200 trouble makers under house arrest.

Ms Gandhi's daughter and election agent Priyanka hit the road early today and toured polling booths at Bachrawan assembly segment.

At Raja Mau village, she managed to give reporters the slip, who were tailing her cavalcade.

Later talking to reporters, she said the queues outside booths indicated people's enthusiasm. She said electronic voting machines (EVMs) at some booths were not functioning ''but officials are rectifying the flaws.'' SP candidate Rajkumar Chaudhury visited the polling booth set up at the Government Inter-college. He too spoke about faulty EVMs.

UNI