Nearly 52 pc voting in Haryana till 4 pm; polling peaceful

A voter turnout of 51.93 per cent was recorded till 4 pm in the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana on Sunday, with Kurukshetra and Hisar constituencies witnessing brisk polling.

Polling began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm, officials said.

While poll officials said voting was going on smoothly, Congress' Rohtak candidate Deepender Singh Hooda, who is seeking re-election for a fourth term, accused Haryana Minister and Rohtak MLA Manish Grover of "intimidating" voters by forcibly entering some polling booths.

Grover, however, rejected the charge claiming that Deepender Singh Hooda, who is the son of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, made baseless allegations in the face of "imminent defeat".

The poll percentage recorded till 4 pm was 51.93 per cent, poll officials said.

Kurukshetra, from where Haryana minister Nayab Singh Saini is pitted against Congress' Nirmal Singh and INLD's Arjun Chautala, recorded a poll percentage of 56.99 while Hisar recorded 55.50 per cent voting.

Sirsa, Karnal, Bhiwani-Mahendergarh, Sonipat, Rohtak, Gurgaon, Ambala and Faridabad registered polling percentage of 52.71, 47.31, 53.32, 52.59, 52.74, 49.53, 49.71 and 50.81 respectively, officials said.

Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli, was among early the voters, exercised his franchise at a polling booth in Gurgaon.

After casting his vote, he posted a picture of his inked finger on Twitter and wrote, "Voting is your right and responsibility towards nation building. Go vote."