Women, senior citizens turn up in large numbers

 Visakhapatnam: Despitethe scorching heat and long queues, voters turned up in large numbers at various polling stations across Visakhapatnam district.

Apart from a number of youths who showed up at the queues, the presence of women and senior citizens dominated men in most polling booths.

Even as the polling began at 7 am on Monday, the voters lined up in a majority of polling booths till late in the evening. While senior citizens and women came in the first hours of polling, men and youth appeared at queue lines after 11 am.

About 10.24 per cent of polling was registered by 9 am. It rose up to 20.47 by 11 am. At 1 pm, the polling percentage was 33.72. At 3 pm, it increased to 46.01 percent. For every hour, the percentage of voting recorded over 10 percent rise. By 5 pm. Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha limits recorded 59.39 vote percent. Even till 6 pm, the number of voters who entered the gates of the polling stations swelled and the voting exercise continued till they utilised their franchise.

Differently-abled persons and injured persons availed wheelchair facility to cast their votes. Pregnant women and first-time voters too were seen waiting for their turn to exercise their franchise. “Fortunately, I was not made to wait in a long queue because of my condition,” said M Mounika, a pregnant woman, adding that it took 45 minutes for her to complete the voting process.

Even as senior citizens, pregnant ladies, women in large numbers came in droves to cast their vote, the number of voters saw a slight dip post 12 noon. But the count increased from 4 pm in several stations.

After casting her vote, a 78-year-old woman Anne Lalitha shared, “It is once in a five-year democratic exercise.

We should think of our future generations and come forward to exercise our franchise without giving a skip.”

Like her, a number of senior citizens waited for close to two to three hours to exercise their franchise. Carrying water bottles and wiping away sweat from their face, they continued to wait until their turn came at the booths.

Meanwhile, an army of first-time voters were seen taking part in the voting process. “It is a great honour to take part in the largest democratic exercise. I think, youths should step forward to usher in change as their role in the voting exercise plays an imperative part,” reasoned Harshita, a first-time voter.

Following the technical snag, voting exercise was delayed in some of the booths at Seethammadhara, Gajuwaka and parts of north and south constituencies of Visakhapatnam.