Polling for the 117 assembly seats in border state Punjab remained largely peaceful on Sunday barring some reported glitches in EVM’s and clashes between AAP and Congress workers in certain pockets. Punjab registered a voter turnout of over 68% till filing of this news, less than the last polls in 2017 when the turnout was 77.36%.
With the electorate deciding their choice of candidates, the fate of top Punjab leaders including AAP’s CM face Bhagwant Mann, Navjot Sidhu, Congress CM face Charanjit Singh Channi, Capt Amarinder Singh, Sukhbir Badal, Bikram Majithia, Parkash Singh Badal now remains locked in EVMs for the big day on March 10 when results will be announced.
Punjab elections have been a bitter multi cornered contest for the first time between 5 political outfits, the ruling Congress, the AAP, the SAD-BSP, the BJP-Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) alliance and the farmers’ outfit SSM.
Also Read | About 49.31% voting in UP, Punjab till 3 pm
Amritsar-based famous conjoined twins Sohan Singh and Mohan Singh, cast their separate votes in Amritsar for the first time attaining the age of 18-years. The two conjoined twins said they were extremely happy to cast their vote. The two were treated as two separate voters and special arrangements were made for them to maintain secrecy of their vote.
Actor Sonu Sood’s vehicle was confiscated while he was trying to enter a polling booth. His sister Malvika is the Congress candidate from Moga. The actor was sent home. “Action will be taken against him if he steps out of his house,” Moga District PRO Pradbhdeep Singh said. The polling day saw enthusiasm on the 196 pink polling stations for women. As many as 70 polling stations were managed by persons with disabilities.
Bhagwant Mann’s mother Harpal Kaur said, “By God's grace, everyone loves him (Bhagwant). For us, he has already become the CM. People love him.”Bhagwant Mann said if a mother has said this, what else does one want. He said his party was not expecting a hung assembly, instead was eying over 80 seats.
Charanjit Channi claimed that the Congress party will form a government with 2/3rd majority in Punjab. Capt Amarinder Singh after voting in Patiala said, “The BJP-PLC and Dhindhsa’s party is getting a good response, else do we need.”
Punjab has over 2.14 core electorates including 1.02 crore women and 727 Transgender. There are 1304 candidates in fray with 315 contesting candidates with criminal records.
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