35 per cent voting registered at Nagpur till 1330 hrs

Nagpur, Feb 1 (UNI) Around 35 per cent Nagpurians, out of total 14,40,598 voters registered, exercised their franchise till 1330 hours to elect 136 representatives in Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) here today, official sources said.

Additional Deputy Municipal Commissioner Ajay Ramteke told UNI that the voting has been peaceful with no untoward incident reported so far except in Makardhokada area where additional force was deployed to bring the situation under control as a large number of voters had gathered in one polling booth.

Outgoing Mayor Naresh Gawande, outgoing Deputy Mayor Raghunath Malikar and outgoing Standing Committee Chairman Nandini Hadke were among those who cast their ballot early in the morning today.

While Mr Gawande himself in the fray, Mr Malikar is not contesting, instead having fielded his wife Pushpa after his ward was reserved for women. Similarly, Ms Hadke is also not seeking re-election, with her husband Shankar having entered the fray.

There are 1,147 candidates in the fray from 135 wards where polling is being held, with the election in one ward having been countermanded due to the death of a candidate there.

UNI