Chandigarh, May 19:Nearly 59 per cent of 2.07 crore voters exercised their franchise for 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab on Sunday, amid reports of minor clashes between Congress and SAD-BJP workers at a few places.
About 64 per cent turnout was registered in Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat where polling remained peaceful, poll officials said.The 13 seats in Punjab and the lone seat of Chandigarh went to polls in the seventh and final phase of the general election.
The poll percentage figures in Punjab and in the Union territory’s lone seat were estimated at the close of polling at 6 pm, the officials said, adding that the exact turnout will be known later.As many as 278 candidates, including 24 women, are in the fray and results will be declared on May 23.
Of the eligible voters in Punjab, 98,29,916 were female and 560 belonged to the third gender.
The LS constituencies in Punjab that witnessed a higher voter turnout included Patiala (64.18 pc), Ferozepur (63.11 pc), Sangrur (62.67 pc), Bathinda (62.24 pc), while Amritsar (52.47 pc) and Hoshiapur (56.27 pc) recorded a relatively low turnout.
Barring stray incidents of clashes, polling remained peaceful in Punjab.
At Talwandi Sabo, Moga and Sangrur, minor clashes were witnessed between Congress and Akali Dal workers.
At Talwandi Sabo, which falls under Bathinda parliamentary constituency, the opposition Akali Dal alleged that shots were fired by workers of the ruling Congress in Punjab.
Punjab’s Chief Electoral Officer S Karuna Raju said, “An incident of firing was reported in Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda.”
Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, after casting her vote in Bathinda, charged the Punjab Government with “misusing” the official machinery to “intimidate” Akali supporters.
In the morning, there were reports of technical glitches in EVMs at several places including Ludhiana, Samana and Moga.
Eight ballot units, 13 control units, and eight voter-verified paper audit trail were replaced, Raju said.
Raju said a voter was nabbed for clicking picture inside a polling booth in Ludhiana and a case has been registered against him under the Representation of People’s Act.
As polling began at 7am, voters including elders, women and youth queued up at several polling stations to exercise their franchise.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, his wife Preneet Kaur along with his other family members also exercised their franchise at Patiala in the afternoon.
Earlier, former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal and their two daughters also cast their vote.
Cricketer Harbhajan Singh exercised his franchise in Jalandhar.
For Chandigarh seat, BJP candidate Kirron Kher is locked in an electoral battle against former railway minister and Congress candidate and four-time MP, Pawan Kumar Bansal.
Prominent faces among candidates who are in fray in Punjab included SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, Union ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Hardeep Puri and Bollywood actor Sunny Deol.
Besides Sukhbir Badal, who entered fray from Ferozepur, his wife and Union Minister Harsimrat Badal is seeking re-election from Bathinda for the third time. Union Minister and BJP candidate Puri is contesting from Amritsar seat.
BJP’s Sunny Deol is making his electoral debut from Gurdaspur constituency against State Congress chief and sitting MP Sunil Jakhar.
AAP’s Bhagwant Mann is seeking re-election from Sangrur seat.
As many as nine sitting MLAs and 10 sitting MPs from various parties are in fray.
Among Congress’s heavyweights, former Union Minister Manish Tewari is in fray from Anandpur Sahib while former Union Minister and wife of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Preneet Kaur, contested from Patiala seat.
On most of the 13 seats, the contest appeared to be a direct fight between the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance.
In 2014, the AAP and the SAD had won four seats each, the Congress three and the BJP two.
More than one lakh security personnel including paramilitary force had been deployed in the state for conducting free and fair polling.
A total of 23,213 polling stations had been set up and which 249 were categorised as critical while 719 and 509 booths had been declared sensitive and hyper sensitive, respectively.
In Chandigarh, over 6.46 lakh voters in Chandigarh were eligible to cast vote in which 36 candidates, nine of them women, are in the fray. — PTI
Highlights
4:45 pm: A woman stages protest outside a polling booth in Khanna after she found that her name missing in voters’ list.
4:17 pm: A polling centre in Ferozepur Cantonment has yet to record any of the registered 4,500 votes.
4:14 pm: A polling agent of sitting MP Ravneet Bittu was caught recording a video in a polling booth while casting his vote. He was detained by election officials and handed over to police.
3:35 pm: Ludhiana’s BJP unit claims a Congress party worker beat up their worker inside the booth.
3:27 pm: ARO Lambi serves notice to SAD president Sukhbir Badal’s younger daughter Gurleen Kaur for having entered the polling booth and casting her vote wearing SAD’s badge. 3:16 pm: Akali sarpancharrested for creating a ruckus at a polling booth in Patiala. Tersem Singh entered a polling booth in Sidhuwala drunk and entered into an argument with voters.
2:46 pm: Punjab chief election officer has asked Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Pradeep Kumar, who is the district election officer, to inquire into reports that a man had a photo of him casting his ballot uploaded on Facebook. Police are scouring social media to find out of there are other such incidents. District election officer warns of strict action.
2:40 pm: Congress leader Khushbaz Jattana booked for Talwandi Sabo firing.
1:28 pm: A voter in Ludhiana arrested for uploading on Facebook a photo he clicked while casting his ballot. Voters are not allowed to carry mobile phones into polling booths.
1:16 pm: “If Navjot wants to challenge (me), he should take it with Congress high command,” Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said in Patiala, reacting to Navjot Singh Sidhu comments in Bathinda. Captain Amarinder Singh was speaking to the press after he and his wife Preneet Kaur cast their votes.
1:12 pm: EVM snags reported in two polling stations in Nawanshahr.
12:38 pm: SAD worker Jalour Singh has been injured in a firing in ward number 8 at Talwandi Sabo. SAD leaders have blamed incident on the Congress. SAD workers are staging protest. SSP is also at the spot
12:21 pm: Reports of clash between two groups in Ealwal village, Sangrur.
12:18 pm: Reports of firing in Talwandi Sabo, Bathinda. Details awaited.
11:46 am: Hans Raj Hans and his son cast their votes at a boot in Model Town, Jalandhar.
11: 36 am: Gidderbaha assembly segment has the most polling at 32.50 per cent polling and Nihal Singh Wala has recorded the least 14.7 per cent polling.
11:26 am: Vijay Sampla and his wife vote at a government school at Naloiyan Chowk.
10:34 am: Parkash Singh Badal, Sukhbir Badal, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, daughter Harkirat, Gurleen cast their votes. They came together in a cavalcade. The Badal patriarch says, “We gave reported about last night violence to EC, administration, police but no action so far”.
10:34 am: We will win 10 plus seats: Sukhbir
10: 34 am: EC officials, police working under Raja Warring: Harsimrat says
