Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A number of voters approached the political parties' booth agents, alleging that they didn't get their slips that contained their names, polling booth number and centre name.
These slips made it very convenient to find out the poll booth and avoid any confusion. Voters attributed the low voting to non-distribution of voters' slips this time.
They said last year, they didn't face such difficulties as the slips were distributed on scheduled time. But this time, they didn’t get any voter slips. The agents admitted to receiving many complaints in this regard.
They even said despite their best efforts, they could not provide voters slip to many because their names were not on the list. In normal conditions, the agents verified the voters list, mobile numbers and issued voters slips.
Although there was slow voting till noon, it picked up momentum a little bit after 2pm. In Muslims dominated pockets in old Bhopal, voting picked up a little bit.
Many voters said because of prayer timings for Namaz, low turnout was witnessed at a number of polling booths. But, voting picked up later and people cast their votes without wasting much time in the queue.
There was tight security at the Model School and Old Court polling booths of Shahjahanabad. Police kept on announcing that people should not assemble at any point unnecessary in Shahjahanabad.
They did not allow the crowd to be in the vicinity of the polling booth. In Bhopal central, Independents candidates did not deploy any agents at most of the polling booths while in Bhopal north, Nasir Islam (Independent candidate) had deployed agents at Sadar Manzil, Model School booth.
