Ranchi, April 23: The state capital voted enthusiastically today, aided no doubt by a slight drop in daytime temperatures, but the overall turnout across Ranchi Lok Sabha constituency was a moderate 45 per cent against 49.45 per cent in the 2004 elections, possibly due to the lurking shadow of Maoist terror.

The fear psychosis created by Maoists by holding train passengers hostage and triggering landmine blasts during the last couple of days may have played on voters’ minds. And though nothing of the kind happened today, voters in several booths across the constituency just did not come out to vote in the manner that was expected.

Barring technical snags in EVMs in over half a dozen booths, polling was by and large peaceful and incident free.

There was a heavy rush in Ranchi with youngsters voting for the first time queuing up as early as 7am when voting opened. At Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC), in the Hatia area, employees as well as local villagers, seemed enthusiastic too.

The Centre’s efforts at reviving the ailing PSU into a mini-Navratna seemed to have brought the smiles back on people. The long queues at booths in Dhurwa were testimony to that.

“Congress candidate Subodh Kant Sahay has worked a lot for the revival of HEC. This seems to have had a positive impact on today’s voting,” said Ravindra Prasad Singh (65), a retired HEC employee.

Sahay on his part began the day by visiting Durga Mandir in Dhurwa before casting his vote at booth number 277. His rival, the BJP’s Ramtahal Choudhary, spent the day in the villages of Ormanjhi.

On the other hand, the new entrant to his party, Team India captain M.S. Dhoni’s elder brother, Narendra Singh Dhoni, was out to boost the morale of BJP workers. “I will always do my bit to strengthen the party,” he said.

In the Naxalite-infested Khelari-McCluskieganj area, the turnout was initially low but polling was peaceful. At Baltharwa community centre, one of the “hyper-sensitive” booths of Khelari, only 63 of over a thousand voters turned up till 9am.

“We were apprehensive about holding free, fair and peaceful polls in these areas. But thankfully, no untoward incident was reported,” said patrolling magistrate Jyotirmoy Ghosh.

Deputy commissioner and returning officer of the constituency Rajiv Arun Ekka denied the moderate turnout was a consequence of the Naxalite bandh. “Probably the heat wave discouraged voters,” he said, adding he was satisfied with the overall percentage which was on a par with states like Andhra Pradesh.