Sluggish voter response suddenly changed after 3 pm in Nagpur Central taking the tentative polling percentage from 34.5% at 3 pm to 50%
at 5 pm. The supporters of the three main candidates sat through a slow afternoon and mouthed the usual hope that polling would pick up after 3 pm. In this case, it came true.
Supporters of all the three prominent candidates Raju Deoghare, Vikas Kumbhare and Ravindra Durugkar claimed that their candidates were doing very well. The candidates had not made proper arrangements for the supporters in Nagpur Central too but due to presence of large number of shops virtually everywhere, the political booth in-charge could satisfy thirst and hunger of the workers, of course by spending his own money. City Congress president Jaiprakash Gupta ordered snacks for his party workers around noon.
Congress supporters said that Dr Raju Deoghare was getting very good response from educated class as her was a post-graduate doctor. "Our candidate is an educated person with a clean image. He knows a lot of people in the constituency as he has treated them. This is the type candidate middle class wants and not poorly educated politicians who have been telling them the same things since last 20 years," Congress supporter Pinku Sabane of Itwari said.
Supporters of Ravindra Durugkar said that their candidate was the 'official' Congress candidate. "All the traditional Congress voters are coming to us. Deoghare is a good man but he has no political experience. He has not even won a corporation election so how can you expect him to represent the constituency properly in Vidhan Sabha? Our candidate is basically a Congressman and has a very good rapport with all communities," supporters of Durugkar near Itwari railway station said.
BJP supporters said that their candidate was sailing through due to division in Congress votes. They said former NMC standing committee chief Abdul Gani Khan will get significant number of Muslim votes. Congress men, on the other hand, said that Nanda Parate had weaned away Kumbhare's Halba votes. Some Congress leaders admitted that a division of votes was a worry for them but nevertheless said that impact of the party symbol should not be ignored.
Meanwhile, tense situation was created around polling station no. 55/81 at Kabrastan Road, Bhankheda when the electronic voting machine (EVM) went out of order in the afternoon for about two hours. Political workers and voters created a ruckus and polling staff had to ring up the collector office for technicians. The commotion subsided only when EVM became functional again.