Punjab: Over 21% polling till 11 am in Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll

Ludhiana: A voter turnout of 21.51 percent was recorded till 11 am in the polling for the Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll in Punjab on Thursday.

Amid tight security arrangements, the polling began at 7 am and it will continue till 6 pm. The counting of votes will be held on June 23.

The Ludhiana West Assembly seat fell vacant following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January.

There are a total of 14 candidates in the fray and 1,75,469 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise - 85,371 of them women and 10 belonging to the third gender.

AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora reached a polling station along with his family members to exercise his franchise. Before casting votes, Arora paid obeisance at a gurdwara, a temple and the Dargah Pir in Phillaur.

Speaking to reporters, Arora appealed to the people to come out in large numbers to cast their votes.

"Please come out to vote and have maximum voting today," he said.

Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu, BJP nominee Jiwan Gupta and SAD's Parupkar Singh Ghuman also cast their votes.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann appealed to voters to cast their votes in the bypoll.

"My appeal to the voters of Ludhiana West is that you must exercise your right to vote. You must fulfil your duty for the development and progress of your area. Do not consider today a holiday, definitely go and cast your vote," Mann said in a post on X in Punjabi.

Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer Himanshu Jain also cast his vote in the bypoll.

A total of 194 polling stations have been set up with 100 per cent live webcasting of polling stations, officials said.

Outside the entrance of polling stations, designated counters were set up for voters to securely deposit their mobile devices.

These counters were managed by trained volunteers using jute or cloth bag mobile holders.

"In a first-of-its-kind initiative, all polling stations in Ludhiana West have made arrangements for safe mobile phone deposit aims to enhance the voter experience while at the same time upholding the secrecy of voting," the chief electoral officer, Punjab said in a post on X.

Polling stations were equipped with poll volunteers, wheelchairs and help desk to assist voters, said officials.

The voting process will be monitored in real-time from the integrated command and control centre located at the district administrative complex. As many as 235 CCTV cameras have been installed at polling stations, said officials.

The ruling AAP has fielded Rajya Sabha member Arora for the bypoll. Arora (61) is a Ludhiana-based industrialist and is also known for his social welfare work.He runs the Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Charitable Trust.

The Congress has placed its bet on former minister and Punjab Congress working president Ashu (51). Ashu had been MLA twice from this seat in 2012 and 2017. He was defeated by Gogi by a margin of 7,512 votes in the 2022 Assembly polls.

The BJP candidate is a member of the core committee of Punjab BJP. He was earlier the party's state general secretary.

The Ludhiana West bypoll is seen as a litmus test for Mann and the ruling party's national leadership which aggressively campaigned to retain this seat.