Polling crosses 60 per cent in Punjab

Chandigarh, Feb 13 (UNI) An estimated 60 per cent of the 1.65 crore voters in Punjab today exercised their franchise in the elections to 115 of the 117 assembly seats and the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, which was by and large peaceful.

According to official figures available with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) here, polling was higher in the Malwa belt as compared to the Majha and Doaba areas.

Polling crossed 60 per cent in the districts of Mansa, Bathinda, Firozpur, Moga, Kapurthala and Muktsar followed by Sangrur, Gurdaspur, Taran Tarn and Jalandhar. In Amritsar the turnout barely touched 50 per cent till the evening.

Despite rains, there was enthusiasm among rural voters, including women, and long queues of people wrapped in blankets, wearing raincoats or holding umbrellas could be seen outside the polling booths throughout the state.

The voters who started reaching the polling stations as soon as polling began amid showers and unprecedented security cover were allowed access till 1700 Hrs.

The voters, specially in rural areas, made it to the polling booths despite rains, presenting a colourful sight at the polling booths as they queued up outside 16,757 polling stations to choose their representatives from amongst 1038 candidates, including 49 women.

In all, 18,040 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were put in operation. Only in about a dozen-odd polling booths some technical snag was found in the EVMS, delaying the poll process for some time.

After repairs, the polling however, continued uninterrupted there.

The polling, including in 4797 sensitive and 1034 hyper-sensitive booths manned by around 90,000 polling personnel, was largely peaceful though there were some minor reports of clashes between supporters of major parties.

In Jagraon constituency, three people received injuries inflicted by sharp-edged weapon in booth no 16 after a clash between SAD and Congress workers while in Ludhiana West, a BJP supporter advocate suffered minor injuries when he was manhandled by Congress workers.

There was a minor scuffle in Badal village in the Lambi assembly constituency between Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) workers, while in Dhuri, police resorted to mild canecharge after SAD activists and supporters of an independent candidate came to blows.

Finance Minister and Congress candidate from Amritsar parliamentary seat Surinder Singla was booked for assaulting a poll official on duty in a polling station in Majitha assembly segment this afternnoon, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sundaram Krishan said.

Mr Singla's main opponent BJP's star candidate Navjot Singh Sidhu lashed out in his characteristic style saying the finance minister's assault on the poll official was ''an assault on the self-respect of the common Punjabi'' and was typical of the ''arrogance displayed by the Congress regime.'' ''It is a shameful act and the people of Punjab will give them a befitting reply,'' he said.

In another incident, a nephew of Congress MP from Jalandhar Rana Gurjit Singh, was booked for firing towards the house of a SAD supporter in Sidhwan village in Kapurthala constituency, where Mr Rana's wife Rajbans Kaur is a ruling Congress candidate.

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