New Delhi: Polling for 69 Assembly constituencies and Tehri Lok Sabha seat in Uttarakhand began on Wednesday morning, amid tight security in the wake of a "threat perception" about activities of terrorists and Maoists during the exercise.
The polling was reportedly by and large peaceful, barring minor hiccups at some booths because of malfunctioning of electronic voting machines.
An estimated 60 lakh voters would decide the future of over 785 candidates in 69 Assembly seats. The election to the Bajpur assembly seat being countermanded following death of Congress candidate Janak Raj Sharma.
Polling for Tehri Lok Sabha by-election also began this morning. Ten candidates, including Congress leader Vijay Bahuguna his and BJP's Manujendra Shah, are in the fray. Governor Sudershan Aggarwal and wife Usha were the first among those who case their ballots as the polling started at 0800 hours.
The Met Department has predicted the weather would remain "mainly dry" throughout the day. Earlier, campaigning was affected due to bad weather and many election rallies, including that of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, were cancelled.
Stringent security arrangements are in place for ensuring law and order during the polls in the wake of "threat perception" about activities of terrorists and Maoists during the exercise.
About 75,000 polling personnel being deployed in the state which include 6,500 personnel of central para-military force. All borders with Nepal, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Tibet have been sealed, officials said.
A total of 7,491 polling stations have been set up with 1,200 being declared as either sensitive and hyper- sensitive, Chief Electoral Officer N Ravishanker said.
Prominent among those who are not contesting are Chief Minister N D Tiwari, state Congress president Harish Rawat and top state BJP leader C Khanduri. Nityanand Swami (BJP) for Laxman Chowk assembly segment, Indira Hridayesh (Cong) and Bansi Dhar Bhagat (BJP) for Haldwani and Bhagat Singh Koshiyari (BJP) for Kapkot.
Fifty-five women, including state Information Minister Hridayesh, are contesting the polls.
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