Punjab records 46.38 pc polling till 3 pm, Chandigarh 52.61 pc

Chandigarh, Jun 1 (PTI) A voter turnout of 46.38 per cent was recorded till 3 pm in the polling for the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies of Punjab on Saturday.

In the lone parliamentary seat of Chandigarh, the voter turnout was at 52.61 per cent.

Polling began at 7 am amid tight security arrangements and will continue till 6 pm, officials said.

Among the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in Punjab, Gurdaspur recorded a turnout of 49.10 per cent, followed by Bathinda with 48.95 per cent, according to Election Commission data.

The polling percentage in Amritsar was 41.74, Khadoor Sahib 46.54, Jalandhar 45.66, Hoshiarpur 44.65, Anandpur Sahib 47.14, Ludhiana 43.82, Fatehgarh Sahib 45.55, Faridkot 45.16, Ferozepur 48.55, Sangrur 46.84 and Patiala 48.93, the data showed.

Voters, including the elderly, queued up early in the morning at several polling stations to exercise their franchise and beat the heat.

Among the early voters were Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, state BJP chief Sunil Jakhar, AAP leader Raghav Chadha, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, AAP candidates Malvinder Singh Kang, Karamjit Singh Anmol and Laljit Bhullar, BJP candidate Taranjit Singh Sandhu, SAD candidate Anil Joshi and former cricketer Harbhajan Singh.

Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, along with his wife, cast his vote in Muktsar. Congress candidate Gurjeet Singh Aujla exercised his franchise in Amritsar, while BJP’s Chandigarh candidate Sanjay Tandon and his family voted in the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, his wife and Bathinda candidate Harsimrat Kaur Badal, along with their son and two daughters, cast their votes in Muktsar.

Former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa cast their votes in Punjab while actor Ayushmann Khurrana and sitting BJP MP from Chandigarh Kirron Kher exercised their franchise in the Union Territory.

The officials said BSP’s Ferozepur candidate Surinder Kamboj was booked for having someone film him while voting at a polling booth in Guruharsahai, and making the video public.

In Muktsar, an EVM developed a technical snag at a polling booth in Khuddian village, they said.

Talking to reporters in Sangrur, Chief Minister Mann appealed to the people of Punjab to come out in large number and exercise their franchise.

SAD leader Harsimrat Badal also appealed to people to vote.

In Mohali, AAP leader Chadha appealed to people to exercise their franchise. “Each vote will decide the country’s ‘disha’ (direction) and ‘dasha’ (condition),” he said.

Among the prominent faces in the fray are BJP nominee and four-time MP Preneet Kaur, who is seeking re-election from the Patiala parliamentary constituency, and Harsimrat Badal, a three-time MP, and BJP’s Parampal Kaur Sidhu, a former IAS officer, who are trying their luck from Bathinda.

Former chief minister and Congress candidate Charanjit Singh Channi and BJP nominee Sushil Rinku are in the fray from the Jalandhar reserved seat. Former deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa is contesting from Gurdaspur, while Warring is contesting against BJP’s Ravneet Singh Bittu from Ludhiana.

Radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh, who is lodged in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act (NSA), is fighting from Khadoor Sahib.

Former diplomat and BJP nominee Taranjit Singh Sandhu is contesting from Amritsar against sitting MP and Congress candidate Gurjeet Singh Aujla.

Among its 13 Lok Sabha candidates in Punjab, AAP has fielded five cabinet ministers — Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal (Amritsar), Laljit Singh Bhullar (Khadoor Sahib), Gurmeet Singh Khuddian (Bathinda), Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer (Sangrur) and Balbir Singh (Patiala).

Congress candidate Sukhpal Khaira is contesting from Sangrur while AAP’s Karamjit Singh Anmol and BJP’s Hans Raj Hans are in the fray from the Faridkot seat.

SAD (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann is contesting from Sangrur and Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, who is the son of Beant Singh, one of the two assassins of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, is contesting from the Faridkot reserved constituency.

In Chandigarh, BJP candidate Sanjay Tandon is pitted against Congress nominee and former Union minister Manish Tewari.

A total of 328 candidates, including 26 women, are in the fray in Punjab while 19 candidates, including two women, are contesting the elections in Chandigarh, the officials said.

Drinking water, shades, ‘chabeel’ (sweetened water), medical kits, oral rehydration solution (ORS) and the likes have been arranged at polling stations given the heatwave conditions, the officials said.

A total of 2,14,61,739 voters, including 1,01,74,240 women and 773 third-gender electors, are eligible to vote in Punjab. In Chandigarh, 6,59,805 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.

For the 13 Lok Sabha seats, a total of 24,451 polling stations have been set up. Out of these, 5,694 polling stations have been identified as critical.

INDIA bloc allies Congress and AAP are contesting the polls separately while the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are fighting the Lok Sabha polls on their own for the first time since 1996.

The Sukhbir Badal-led SAD walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2020 over the now-repealed three farm laws.