Punjab records all time high of 71 per cent polling

Chandigarh, Feb 13 (UNI) An unprecedented 71.97 per cent of the 1.65 crore electorate today cast their vote in the elections to 115 of the 117 assembly seats in Punjab and the Amritsar Lok Sabha bypolls.

Briefing mediapersons here tonight, Chief Electoral Officer Sunderam Krishan said polling passed off peacefully except for a few minor incidents.

He said that polling remained smooth throughout the day except in some cases, where the process was held up due to EVM snags, power failure or some other reasons.

According to reports polling was higher in the Malwa belt which has 63 assembly seats as compared to the Majha and Doaba areas.

Voting began on a dull note at 0800 hrs this morning amid showers and unprecedented security cover. It, however, picked up as the day progressed. There was more enthusiasm among the rural voters, including women. Long queues were seen outside the 16,757 polling stations. In all 1038 candidates, including 49 women, were in the fray.

Polling percentage crossed 70 per cent in districts of Barnala, Mansa, Moga, Muktsar, Sangrur, Bathinda, Gurdaspur, Ferozpur and Faridkot followed by Kapurthala, Taran Tarn, Jalandhar, Patiala, Ropar, Amritsar and other districts where it was between 60 to 65 per cent.

The turnout broke the previous record of 65.14 per cent in 2002 Assembly polls.

Both Chief Minister Amarindar Singh and his arch-rival Shiromani Akali Dal chief Parkash Singh Badal thanked the ''voters of Punjab'' for braving the showers and the cold to exercise their democratic right.

Both the chief ministerial candidate described the record voter turnout as an indication of popularity of their respective parties.

In all, 18,040 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were put in service. Only in about a dozen-odd polling booths some technical snag was found in the EVMS, holding 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 by and large peaceful though there were some minor reports of clashes between supporters of major parties.

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UNI