Glamour quotient missing on polling day

Hyderabad: There was no glitz and glamour on polling day as most celebrities and VIPs failed to turn up at the booths to exercise their franchise in the graduate MLC elections on Sunday.
Celebrities, including film personalities who campaigned extensively during Parliament and assembly elections, were conspicuously absent this time. Except political leaders, the famous faces were not seen heading to vote or flaunt their inked finger after casting their ballot.
During the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections in December, 2020, many celebrities had voted and even appealed to the general public to get out of their homes and cast their ballot. The possible reason for their absence this time could be the celebrities did not even enrol themselves as voters in the first place.
“Political parties mostly approached people based on the voter’s list. Also, since issues in the polls were related to unemployment, parties also did not focus much on getting them enrolled or vote,” a top BJP leader said.
Meanwhile, the voting in the city went off smoothly barring a few stray incidents. At many booths TOI visited, several voters were seen sans masks and ignoring social distancing norms. “We came here to vote early, but have seen that many were not wearing masks. We returned home as the number of cases are steadily increasing,” KR Reddy, a voter from Narayanguda, said
At some polling booths, officials did not allow voters to carry their mobile phones inside the voting compartment.
Meanwhile, at Old Bowenpally, voters of the same family had to vote at different polling booths. A teacher couple had to vote in different areas and such incidents were reported from many areas.
Also, there were long queues before polling booths. “I have seen in my area, many people returned home without voting as they failed to locate their polling booth,” SK Suresh, a voter from Sanathnagar, said.