The fate of the candidates in fray vying for the mayoral position and 60 posts of the councillors of Municipal Corporation of Haridwar was sealed in the ballot boxes on Sunday.

In all 1,89,266 voters were expected to cast their vote to choose the ‘chhoti sarkar’,  the urban civic body office bearers.  As per the last report received from the polling officers concerned, over 65 percent polling had been done by 4 pm.

During the 1013 civic polls, the polling percentage was a little over 68.

However, the election officers said that the percentage would near or cross the last time figure as lengthy queues were seen at the booths when the time of polling ended at 5 pm.  

On 186 booths of the municipal corporation and 24 booths of Shivalik Nagar municipal council, the polling teams were engaged in ensuring free, fair and peaceful polling on the day.  

The district election officer Deepak Rawat  had earlier given instructions to the zonal/ sector magistrates and the returning officers to make all the arrangements to ensure that the polls passed off peacefully sans a glitch. 

The district administration breathed a sigh of relief as the polling was by and large peaceful throughout the day without an untoward incident reported from anywhere in the district. 

The polling process started at 8 am on Sunday and the voting picked pace as the day advanced.

The voting was brisk at the booths for Bhagwanpur Nagar Panchayat till noon as nearly 34 percent was polled by the time.

  About 35 per cent polling was reported from Landhaura and  the same was the picture in other wards. However, the voting process was a bit slow at Shivalik Nagar as 21.8 per cent polling was reported till noon.

Observers say that the polling was slow as ballot papers were used for the urban local body election.

“The people are now quite accustomed to casting votes through the electronic voting machines (EVM).

 Polling is faster through EVMs.

The returning officers too faced a tough time thanks to the use of the ballot papers for the local body polls,” said an observer.

Meanwhile, elaborate security arrangements had been put into place by the district administration to ensure free, fair and peaceful polling on the day.

The security was particularly heavy at the booths marked as   sensitive and very sensitive.

Video recording was also done at the sensitive and the highly sensitive booths to keep things transparent.

The state urban development minister Madan Kaushik cast his vote at Bhagwandass Sanskrit University at Kankhal  on Sunday morning with the  Yoga Guru Swami  Ramdev  and Acharya Balrkishna accompanying him. 

 He expressed satisfaction over the peaceful polling going on in the entire district.