45 per cent turnout in Bawana bypoll

Polling for the Bawana assembly bypoll ended peacefully today with a total voter turnout of 45 per cent, much lower than in the 2015 elections in the constituency, where AAP, BJP and Congress are locked in a triangular contest.
The polling ended at 6 pm officially, but those who had already queued up at the polling stations by then were allowed to exercise their franchise.
"The entire polling process went on peacefully and no untoward incident was reported from any part of the constituency in north-west Delhi," Chandra Bhushan Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi said.
The polling officials said an EVM and 17 VVPAT equipment malfunctioned and were replaced without any hindrance to voting.

"One EVM malfunctioned during the polling. 17 VVPATs also showed errors. All malfunctioning machines were replaced," they said.
The voting percentage today was much lower than in the 2015 Assembly election in the constituency in which 61.83 per cent voting percentage was registered.

The officials conjectured that multiple elections taking place in the city in quick succession could be a factor for the low turnout in Bawana, adding that voter turnout was "generally low" in bypolls.
Eight candidates are in the fray for the bypoll. The counting of votes will take place on August 28.
BJP has fielded Ved Prakash who had won from the constituency in the 2015 elections as an AAP candidate. He had resigned from assembly membership and joined the BJP in March this year.

The AAP has fielded Ram Chandra, while Congress has put its bet on former three-time MLA from Bawana, Surendra Kumar.
There are a total of 2.94 voters in Bawana, including 1,64,114 males, 1,30,143 females and 25 third gender voters.
Voting was held in 379 polling stations across the constituency.