Lok Sabha polls: Haryana records 22.09% turnout till 11 am

Chandigarh: Haryana recorded a voter turnout of 22.09 per cent in the first four hours of polling for its 10 Lok Sabha constituencies on Saturday.

Polling is also underway for the bypoll to the Karnal assembly seat where Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini is in the fray. The bypoll was necessitated by his predecessor Manohar Lal Khattar's resignation.

There are 2,00,76,768 (two crore) registered voters, including 94,23,956 (94 lakh) women and 467 people from the transgender community, Chief Electoral Officer Anurag Agarwal earlier said.

According to Election Commission data, after polling began at 7 am, the overall turnout till 9 am was 8.31 per cent, rising to 22.09 per cent at 11 am.

Officials said polling is going on smoothly across the state.

According to data, Kurukshetra had the highest turnout till 11 am at 26.10 per cent while Gurugram registered the lowest at 17.42 per cent.

Ambala recorded a turnout of 22.30 per cent, Bhiwani-Mahendragarh 24.32 per cent, Hisar 22.18 per cent, Karnal 22.04 per cent, Rohtak 22.15 per cent, Sirsa 24.71 per cent, Faridabad 19.55 per cent and Sonipat 22.88 per cent.

In 2019, the BJP had swept Haryana, winning all 10 Lok Sabha seats.

For the Karnal assembly bypoll, the polling percentage at 11 am was at 18 after a slow first two hours during which it had a turnout of just 3 per cent.

A total of 223 candidates, including Khattar, two Union ministers and Congress stalwart Kumari Selja, are in the Lok Sabha elections fray in Haryana. These include 207 men and 16 women.

Voting began amid tight security and will continue till 6 pm.

Khattar and Saini were among the first to cast their votes at their respective booths.

Saini, accompanied by his family members, cast his vote in his native Mirjapur Majra village in Ambala district's Naraingarh. Khattar exercised his franchise at Karnal's Prem Nagar.

The BJP's state chief and outgoing Kurukshetra MP, Saini was sworn in as chief minister on March 12. While he is contesting the assembly bypoll, Khattar is the BJP candidate from Karnal Lok Sabha seat.

Saini, Khattar and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Bhupinder Singh Hooda appealed to voters to come out in large numbers and exercise their franchise.

Khattar, who is up against Haryana Youth Congress chief Divyanshu Budhiraja, said in Karnal that everyone must come forward to participate in the "festival of democracy".

Saini, facing the Congress' Tarlochan Singh in the bypoll, appealed to every eligible voter to cast their vote.

The country has scaled new heights of development under Prime Minister Narendra Modi while Haryana has also moved on a path of development under the BJP government, Saini told reporters after casting his vote.

Hooda and his son Deepender Singh Hooda also cast their votes in Rohtak district.

Deepender Singh Hooda, who is contesting on a Congress ticket from Rohtak against the BJP's incumbent MP Arvind Sharma, also urged voters to exercise their franchise.

Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala exercised his franchise in Kaithal.

Haryana is witnessing a direct contest between the BJP and the opposition Congress on most seats. However, seats such as Hisar are witnessing a multi-cornered contest.

From Hisar, Power Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala, an Independent MLA who joined the BJP ahead of the polls, is contesting against two members of the Chautala clan -- the Jannayak Janta Party's (JJP) Naina Chautala and the Indian National Lok Dal's (INLD) Sunaina Chautala.

Former Congress MP Jai Prakash is also in the fray.

First-time voters expressed their enthusiasm at being part of the democratic exercise.

"The youth are a country's backbone and everyone should participate in this festival of democracy by exercising their right to vote," said a first-timer voter in Panipat.

Ranjit Singh Chautala and his family members cast their votes in Sirsa district.

JJP chief Ajay Singh Chautala and his wife Naina Chautala also cast their votes, along with their sons -- former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala and Digvijay Chautala.

At the polling booth, Ajay Singh Chautala touched the feet of his uncle Ranjit Singh Chautala and sought his blessings.

Naina Chautala, who also sought Ranjit's blessings, told reporters that elections are for politicians what board exams are for children.

"We have done our work and now it is over to the people," she said.

In Hisar's Adampur, BJP leaders Kuldeep Bishnoi, his wife Renuka Bishnoi and son Bhavya Bishnoi, an MLA, cast their votes.

The Congress' INDIA bloc partner AAP is contesting from Kurukshetra, where it has fielded its Haryana unit chief Sushil Gupta against the BJP's Naveen Jindal and the INLD's Abhay Singh Chautala.

Union ministers Rao Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjar are seeking re-election from Gurugram and Faridabad, respectively.

From Gurugram, the Congress has fielded senior leader Raj Babbar.

Selja is contesting from Sirsa.

The JJP has fielded candidates from all 10 seats, INLD from seven and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) from nine.

Chief Electoral Officer Agarwal earlier said 20,031 polling stations have been set up. These include 19,812 permanent and 219 auxiliary stations.

Foolproof security arrangements have been made for the smooth conduct of the elections, Director General of Police Shatrujeet Kapur said.