Punjab registers 30-35% voting till 1300 hrs

An estimated 30 to 35 per cent voters exercised their franchise till 1300 hrs in Punjab amid stray incidents of violence.     

"Voters are turning up at polling booths braving hot and torrid conditions to exercise their franchise. Polling till 1 am was between 30 to 35 per cent. It was brisk in rural areas as compared to urban," the election officials said.      

Between 30 to 40 per cent of around six lakh voters exercised their franchise for the lone Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat where polling has been peaceful, the officials said.      

They said that polling was by and large peaceful barring stray incidents of violence.      

At Duneke village on the outskirts of Moga city, 200 km from here, two scribes from different private channels were allegedly assaulted by supporters of ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for clicking pictures of Akali workers purportedly carrying fire arms in vehicles.      

While the scribes alleged that workers owing allegiance to former SAD minister Tota Singh's son Makhan Singh threw a chemical on one of them and also fired a shot in air, Moga SSP Ashok Kumar Bath denied the accusations, but police registered a case against unknown persons.      

Polling remained suspended for few minutes at about 11 polling booths in Moga district due to technical faults in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Voting was disrupted for about 15 minutes after a polling officer Raj Kumar died due to heart attack at a booth in Bhent Pattan village in Gurdaspur district. The polling station is, however, part of Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha constituency.      

A report from Phagwara said that an Electronic Voting Machine developed a snag at polling booth no 49 at village Sangatpur, which stopped polling for about fifteen minutes.      

As many as 51 votes had been cast when the EVM developed snag, official sources said adding the EVM was replaced and the polling resumed.      

The 51 votes polled in the now out-of-order EVM would be counted on May 16 alongwith other votes that are being polled in the new EVM, the sources said.      

Meanwhile, in another incident a Congress worker was allegedly attacked by SAD activists at Akalsar road in Moga district when he was going in his car, police said adding that it had registered a case against five persons, but no arrests were made.      

Polling is being held in nine seats of Punjab — Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Khadoor Sahib, Jalandhar (reserve), Fatehgarh Sahib (reserve), Hoshiarpur (reserve), Anandpur Sahib, Ludhiana and Faridkot (reserve).      

An estimated 1.16 crore voters will seals the fate of 139 candidates in Punjab, including ten women and 65 independents.