Pb bypolls: 82 pc voting in Talwandi Sabo, 60 pc in Patiala

Bypolls to the Assembly seats of Talwandi Sabo and Patiala, where former Union minister Preneet Kaur is one of the contestants, were today held peacefully with around 82.34 and 60 per cent polling respectively.
Giving details, Punjab Chief Electoral Officer V K Singh said here, "Barring firing of few gun shots in air at Rama Mandi in Talwandi Sabo, there was no incident of violence and the polling ended peacefully."
However, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party alleged that the ruling SAD-BJP coalition government "misused" the official machinery and "bribed" voters to influence them to vote in favour of its candidates.

Reports here said that live gun shots were fired allegedly by Akali supporters and vehicles were damaged allegedly by Congress activists at Rama Mandi in Talwandi Sabo.
However, no injuries were reported in the incident, the Punjab's CEO said.
Both the seats are witnessing a triangular contest among ruling SAD, Congress and the AAP.

Meanwhile, Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa condemned the "attack" by "Akalis" on Congress candidate Harminder Singh Jassi in Rama Mandi.
He slammed the Akali Dal for allegedly resorting to booth capturing and pressure tactics in villages like Dunewal, Jeon Singhwala, Malkana, Giana, Bhagwanpur, some wards of Rama Mandi, Bangi Nihal Singh, Leleana and Shergarh in Talwandi Sabo Assembly constituency.

The number of voters in Talwandi Sabo is 1,44,316 while in Patiala there are 1,51,461 electors.