Over 30 pc voter turnout recorded till 2 pm in Punjab rural polls

Chandigarh, Dec 14 (PTI) A voter turnout of over 30 per cent was recorded till 2 pm in the zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections in Punjab on Sunday, officials said.

The polling began at 8 am and continued till at 4 pm. The counting of votes will take place on December 17.

Elections were held to elect members of 347 zones of 22 zila parishads and 2,838 zones of 153 panchayat samitis. Over 9,000 candidates were in the fray, and a total of 1.36 crore voters were eligible to cast their ballots.

According to officials, the voting percentage till 2 pm was 30.21 per cent.

Earlier in the day, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann appealed to voters through X to come out in large numbers to cast their ballot. Later, he, along with his wife, visited a polling booth in Sangrur district to cast votes.

Replying to reporters' questions, the chief minister rejected the opposition's charge that the ruling AAP was "misusing" government machinery in the polls, and said it shows their admission to defeat.

He said candidates of opposition parties, including those of the Congress and the Akali Dal, are contesting the polls. "Where is the misuse?" he asked and asserted that polling was being held in a peaceful manner.

Many voters, particularly the elderly and women, reached several polling stations in the morning to exercise their franchise.

Several leaders and ministers, including Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains, Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, MLAs Kuleep Singh Dhaliwal, Sandeep Jakhar and former minister Surjit Singh Rakhra, cast their votes early.

Meanwhile, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring alleged that a polling booth was "captured" in Babania village in Gidderbaha assembly in Muktsar district, at the behest of the local MLA.

He claimed that polling agents were asked to leave the booth by some miscreants and said that he spoke to the Muktsar Senior Superintendent of Police in this matter and filed a complaint with the State Election Commission. "No hooliganism will be tolerated," Warring said.

The Shiromani Akali Dal too lodged a complaint, alleging "capturing" of a booth in Babania village.

In Tarn Taran's Kazi Kot village, workers of the Aam Aadmi Party and Shiromani Akali Dal came face to face and pelted stones at each other. In Ferozepur's Betu Kadim village, two groups threw stones at each other.

Gurdaspur MLA and Congress leader Barindermeet Singh Pahra alleged that a presiding officer at a polling booth in Chaihya village was casting fake votes. Pahra said three women staffers deployed at the polling booth raised an objection to the conduct of the presiding officer, and he was replaced later.

He said this incident was pointed out to the deputy commissioner and the state election commission, following which an official concerned inquired about it.

Polling was suspended in Varpal and Khasa villages in Amritsar district after a printing error was detected in ballot papers, officials said.

Meanwhile, a couple died after their car fell into a drain near Sangathpura village in Moga district. The incident occurred on Sunday morning when Jaskaran Singh Bhullar was going to drop his wife, Kamaljeet Kaur, for poll duty at Mari Mustafa village.

In five villages under Patiala's Samana constituency -- Kotli, Bhedpuri, Dodhra, Sehajpur Kalan and Sehajpur Khurd -- villagers boycotted polling, protesting their inclusion in the Patran block instead of Samana.

According to villagers, not a single vote was cast in these villages till 12 noon.

Locals said the decision to shift their villages from Samana to Patran was unacceptable, as Samana town is geographically closer, while Patran is nearly 30 kilometres away, making access to routine services difficult.

The SAD wrote to the State Election Commission, alleging that an AAP candidate in Fatehgarh Sahib had posted photographs of ballot papers on social media around 10 hours before the commencement of polling.

These photographs clearly show ballot papers bearing printed serial numbers, the party claimed, adding that it constituted a violation of the model code of conduct. SAD leader Arshdeep Singh Kler demanded a thorough and independent inquiry into how the candidate gained access to ballot papers prior to polling.

Officials said that 18,224 polling stations were set up, covering all rural areas of the districts. There were 860 hyper-sensitive and 3,405 sensitive polling locations, they said.

Around 44,000 police personnel were deployed under the supervision of gazetted rank officers to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections in the state.

The State Election Commission, Punjab, appointed election observers and police observers and asserted that it is fully committed to conducting these general elections fairly and transparently.

Candidates of all major political parties -- the Aam Aadmi Party, Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP -- are contesting the zila parishad and panchayat samiti polls on party symbols.

During poll campaigning, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party sought votes based on the works undertaken by the Bhagwant Mann government.

In the run-up to the polls, the opposition parties targeted the Mann government, accusing it of using the government machinery to prevent their candidates from filing nomination papers and getting those rejected. PTI CHS VSD NSD NSD