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<p align="center"><span style="font-size: 8pt"><strong>Scary house:</strong> Voters entering the booth (above) and a view of booth from outside (left) pics/ramesh h s</span> </p></td></tr></tbody></table>A booth bang in the middle of a crematorium had voters edging away home</strong><br /><br />A polling booth set up in a crematorium kept voters away. Only about 20 per cent voters summoned the courage to vote at Booth No 202 in Chamarajpet in Bangalore (Central).<br /><br />For a majority of the voters mostly Brahmins visiting a burial ground when there's no death is inauspicious.<br /><br />"How can we go to the crematorium," asked Seetha Rao. "We are religious people and we cannot do it because of our beliefs."<br /><br />But BBMP health officer, whose office is in the crematorium, couldn't see what the fuss was about.<br /><br />"The BBMP staff work daily in the office," he said. "What is the harm in coming here for voting once in while, I don't understand."<br /><br />He said the place was chosen because of the lack of alternatives. <br /><br />"Usually, booths are set up in schools or community halls. There was no such place in the area and there was no other go."<br /><br />As a result, turnout was very low 20 per cent at 4 pm, an hour before closure. Giriappa and his wife were one of the few who voted here. "We did not want to miss voting," said Giriappa. "But now, we have to take a bath once we go back home," he added.<br /><br />Even the efforts of party workers to get people to vote were in vain.<br /><br />"People are not coming out," said Raghavendra, presiding officer of the booth. "The atmosphere is scary and the location wrong."</p>

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A booth bang in the middle of a crematorium had voters edging away home

Spooky booth keeps voters away

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Spooky booth keeps voters away

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