Over 72 pc voting in Dhuri bypolls

Over 72 per cent voters today cast their votes in the Dhuri assembly bypolls where Shiromani Akal Dal and Opposition Congress are locked in a tough fight.
Polling began on a slow note this morning and gradually picked up towards afternoon.
Punjab's Chief Electoral Officer V K Singh said that 72.4 per cent of the eligible voters had cast their votes.
"Polling remained peaceful and there was no report of any untoward incident from any polling booth," he said.
Polling started at 8 am and continued till 5 pm.
"Except a snag in one EVM, which was replaced at the start of poll itself, all EVMs were constantly working without developing any snag," he said.

As many as 166 polling stations were set up for about 1.51 lakh eligible voters in Dhuri assembly constituency.

He said that out of the total voters there are 80,561 male voters and 71,391 female voters in Dhuri constituency.
Total 12 candidates are in fray including former minister Gobind Singh Longowal (SAD). Congress-Sanjha Morcha candidate is political greenhorn Simar Partap Singh Barnala, the grandson of former Punjab Chief Minister Surjeet Singh Barnala.
Singh further said that the counting of votes for assembly by-election would take place on April 15 and the result would be declared on the same day.
He said that district administration had made elaborate security arrangements for today's polling. Large number of police and personnel from paramilitary force were deployed at all vulnerable points.

Six Companies of paramilitary forces, four Flying squads and four static surveillance teams had been deployed for conducting peaceful bypoll, he said.
Singh has directed the District Election Officer and Returning Officer for Dhuri by-poll to ensure that EVMs are stored in appropriately guarded strongroom in a foolproof manner.
Dhuri by-poll was necessitated after Congress MLA Arvind Khanna resigned from the seat in January this year.
Opposition Congress has described this by-poll as "beginning of the end of SAD-BJP combine", while the ruling party SAD is aiming absolute majority in the 117-member Assembly with this win.
At present, SAD has 58 own MLAs in the assembly.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) stayed away from Dhuri by-poll despite AAP MP Bhagwant Singh Mann garnering sizeable votes from this assembly constituency, part of Sangrur Parliamentary seat during last year's Lok Sabha polls.
However, SAD (Amritsar) candidate Surjit Singh Kalabula is also expected to give fight to candidates of both major political parties.