Silent voters decisive in Huzurabad bypoll

Huzurabad: Notwithstanding the exit poll results doing rounds in the media that suggest blooming of saffron in the by-election to the Huzurabad Assembly constituency, the mood of the silent voters could well swing the pendulum either way in the outcome. In a contest that's billed as an intense battle between KCR and Eatala rather than the TRS and the BJP, every vote has its significance.

A day after the polling, both the major parties – the TRS and the BJP – appear to be confident of snatching the victory from the other. Both the parties have their own computations and permutations to feel secure about their win in a contest that went down to the wire. However, there are a few mind-boggling factors that are predictably unpredictable.

Which way the silent voters tilt towards is always seen as a pollsters' nightmare. It's said that at least 10 per cent of the voters in Huzurabad constituency maintained secrecy about their choice among Gellu Srinivas Yadav (TRS), Eatala Rajender (BJP) and Balmoor Venkat (Congress).

The important factor that needs to be assessed is the stand of the 10 per cent vote (around 20,000 votes) recorded in the last two hours of the polling. By no means, nearly 20,000 votes are insignificant.

In general, the voters who turned to polling booths in closing hours go with the trend. "It's an age-old habit that a large number of voters seldom want their vote to go to waste. They like to vote for the winning candidate. Having heard and watched the voting trend right through the day, the people will sense who was going to win. It makes a lot of difference in the outcome of the election," the 62-year-old CS Uma Maheshwar Rao, who runs a general store in Huzurabad, told The Hans India. Despite the fact that there are several elements, especially flow of money and liquor dominating the by-poll scene, the voters in Huzurabad are an enlightened lot, another resident M Ramprasad, a businessman, said. The silent voters and the last minute voters could make a difference in the outcome of the election, he added.