Police lathi-charge protesters at Jind counting centre

Police used canes to disperse workers from opposition parties after they created a ruckus outside a counting centre for the assembly by-election here, complaining about the electronic voting machines.

The counting process was halted briefly during the seventh round when polling agents from of Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP) and the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) alleged that there was a mismatch in serial numbers of two EVMs.

The ruling BJP won the high-stakes Jind bypoll with its candidate Krishan Middha defeating his nearest rival, JJP's Digvijay Singh Chautala, by nearly 13,000 votes.

Jind's Superintendent of Police Ashwin Shenvi said the police resorted to a mild cane- charge to disperse the protesters and maintain law and order.

Jind Deputy Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer Amit Khatri rejected the allegation over the EVMs.

He said it was a clerical issue.

At the end of the sixth round, BJP candidate Krishan Middha was leading over the JJP candidate by a margin of over 10,000 votes. The JJP agent demanded a recount of this round.

The BJP wrested the seat from the main opposition Indian National Lok Dal, pushing that party in the fourth place.

Middha won by a margin of 12,935 votes, Khatri said.

The JJP was floated last month by Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala after a split in the INLD following a family feud.

The Congress, which had fielded its senior leader Randeep Singh Surjewala, an MLA from Kaithal, ended up at the third spot.

The bypoll was announced after the death of Krishan Middha's father Hari Chand Middha, who earlier held the seat as an INLD MLA.