Uttarakhand Comes Out To Vote: Record Turnout Of 69 Per Cent Seen In Urban Body Polls 

A record turnout of 69 per cent was witnessed in the urban body polls held in Uttarakhand on Sunday (18 November). Voters came out in large numbers to elect members across 84 urban bodies in the state, Amar Ujala reported.

Single phase elections for 1148 members across 84 urban bodies including 7 municipal corporations, 39 municipal councils and 38 Nagar Panchayats saw a large number of voters exercising their voting rights. Even after the 5 pm limit, a large number of voters were in queue for voting.

State election commissioner Chandrashekhar Bhatt said that it was a good sign that people voted in such large numbers, adding that voting was carried out in a fair and transparent manner.

Apart for a few minor incidents, no clashes or untoward incidents were reported in these elections.

While the state capital Dehradun recorded a 68.78 per cent voter turnout, Almora district registered 58.82 per cent polling, Champawat had a 72.21 per cent turnout, Chamoli recorded 65.70 per cent turnout and Rudraprayag was at 66.64 per cent polling. Nainital, Bageshwar and Pauri recorded 65.79, 70.02 and 70.04 per cent turnout respectively. Similar high turnout was recorded in other districts of the state.

In 2008, urban body polls had seen 61.86 per cent polling which went up to 65.56 per cent in 2013.

These elections are reportedly a direct contest between the two major parties BJP and Congress.