Summary:
MEERUT: PM Narendra Modi’s first poll rally in Meerut on Thursday drew lukewarm response. The low turnout caused a bit of embarrassment to BJP’s local cadre here.Explaining the low turnout, Gajender Sharma, media coordinator for the rally told TOI, “PM Modi’s was scheduled to arrive at 12:00 pm and the turnout was low until 11 am but number of supporters started increasing soon after. As compared to over 1 lakh who attended the PM's 2014 poll rally here, Thursday event saw only 15,000 in attendance. Besides, though four MPs were present in the rally, but voters from only two districts- Muzaffarnagar and Meerut- were called. In addition, the venue was also small this time so huge crowd was not expected anyway.”The turnout this year was too low as compared to PM’s Meerut rally in 2014 when the rally was attended by more than a lakh people..