Punjab: 60.95 per cent polling recorded in Tarn Taran bypoll

Tarn Taran (PB), Nov 11 (PTI) A voter turnout of 60.95 per cent was witnessed during the polling for the Tarn Taran Assembly by-election in Punjab on Tuesday.

In the 2022 assembly polls, the Tarn Taran assembly constituency had seen a voter turnout of 65.81 per cent.

Polling, which remained peaceful on Tuesday, sealed the fate of 15 candidates who were in the fray for the bypoll to the border constituency.

Polling began at 7 am and ended at 6 pm, with strict security measures in place, according to officials.

Vote counting is scheduled to take place on November 14.

Punjab Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sibin C informed that 60.95 per cent voter turnout has been recorded till 6 PM in the bye-election.

He further informed that the precise figure will be updated by Wednesday once all polling parties return to the collection centres and final data entry is completed.

He thanked the voters of the Tarn Taran assembly constituency for exercising their democratic right in the bye-election.

In the first two hours (7 am to 9 am) of polling, the voting percentage was 11 per cent, and till 11 am, it was 23.35 per cent, as per the Election Commission data.

Voting percentage increased to 36.62 per cent till 1 pm, 48.84 per cent till 3 pm and 59.21 per cent till 5 pm, as per the data.

The Tarn Taran assembly seat fell vacant following the death of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Kashmir Singh Sohal in June.

Despite the early morning chill, many voters, particularly elderly individuals and women, made their way to polling stations on Tuesday. There were long queues outside several polling stations early in the day.

Among the early voters were Congress candidate Karanbir Singh Burj and AAP candidate Harmeet Singh Sandhu.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate Sukwinder Kaur Randhawa visited a polling station in Kaka Kandiala village to cast her vote, accompanied by her daughter Kanchanpreet Kaur.

The bypoll is being seen as a litmus test for Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and AAP leaders, who have campaigned aggressively to retain this seat.

The bypoll is also important as its outcome will throw light on the popularity of the AAP regime's policies and programmes among voters in the border constituency.

AAP nominated Harmeet Singh Sandhu, a three-time MLA from Tarn Taran, who joined the ruling party in July this year.

Sandhu was elected to the assembly as an Independent in 2002 and as a member of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in 2007 and 2012. He unsuccessfully ran for the seat in both 2017 and 2022.

The stakes are high for the Congress party as well, which has nominated its Tarn Taran district unit chief, Karanbir Singh Burj, for the by-election. Burj, an agriculturalist and real estate businessman, is contesting elections for the first time.

The BJP is also looking for a win in this by-election, as prestige is at stake for the party. The BJP fielded Harjit Singh Sandhu, the president of the party's district unit, as its candidate for the bypoll.

The election is equally crucial for SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, who, along with his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal, aggressively campaigned for party candidate Sukhwinder Kaur Randhawa, a retired government school principal and the wife of a 'Dharmi Fauji'. (a term used for Sikh soldiers who deserted the army following Operation Blue Star in 1984).

Another candidate in the fray is independent nominee Mandeep Singh, the brother of Sandeep Singh alias Sunny, an accused in the 2022 murder of Shiv Sena (Taksali) leader Sudhir Suri.

Sandeep Singh is also implicated in an attack on three former police officers, including two who were convicted in a fake encounter case in Tarn Taran, inside the Patiala jail. One of the convicted officers, Suba Singh, passed away from his injuries on September 17.

Mandeep Singh has the backing of Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) led by jailed Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh, Giani Harpreet Singh-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Punar Surjit), Simranjit Singh Mann-led SAD (Amritsar) and some radical Sikh bodies, including the Sikh Youth Federation (Bhindranwala).

Amritpal won the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat in 2024. The Tarn Taran assembly seat is part of the Khadoor Sahib constituency.

In the 117-member Punjab Assembly, the current composition includes 93 MLAs from AAP, 16 from Congress, three from SAD, two from BJP, one from the Bahujan Samaj Party, and one independent.

The constituency has 1,92,838 eligible voters, comprising 1,00,933 males, 91,897 females, and eight third-gender individuals.

A total of 222 polling stations were established at 114 locations, including 60 in urban areas and 162 in rural areas, with four 'model' and three 'pink' polling booths, according to officials.

Additionally, 12 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) were deployed in the assembly constituency, marking one of the largest deployments of CAPF ever by the Election Commission for a bypoll, officials said. PTI CHS VSD MPL MPL