Punjab bypolls: 8.53% polling in 4 assembly segment in first two hours

Chandigarh: A voter turnout of over eight percent was recorded in the first two hours of polling in the bypolls to four assembly segments in Punjab on Wednesday, officials said.

Polling began at 7 am and would end at 6 pm.

Bypolls to the Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal and Barnala assembly segments were necessitated after the incumbent lawmakers were elected to the Lok Sabha.

A voter turnout of 8.53 percent was registered till 9 am, they said.

The Gidderbaha seat recorded 13.1 percent polling, Dera Baba Nanak 9.7 percent, Barnala 6.9 percent and Chabbewal 4.15 percent.

Forty-five candidates, including three women, are in the fray for the bypolls. A total of 6.96 lakh voters, including 3.31 lakh women, are eligible to exercise their franchise at 831 polling stations.

More than 6,400 Punjab Police personnel and 17 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces have been deployed, the officials said.

There will be 100 per cent webcasting of all polling stations, they added.

Among the key contestants in the fray are former Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, Kewal Singh Dhillon, Sohan Singh Thandal and Ravikaran Singh Kahlon (BJP), Amrita Warring and Jatinder Kaur (Congress), and Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon and Ishank Kumar Chabbewal (AAP).

Amrita is the wife of the Congress' Punjab chief and Ludhiana MP Amrinder Singh Raja Warring. Jatinder Kaur is the spouse of Gurdaspur MP and former deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.

The Shiromani Akali Dal has not fielded candidates for the bypolls, the results of which will be announced on November 23.

The AAP currently has 91 MLAs in the 117-member Punjab Assembly, while the Congress has 15, Shiromani Akali Dal three, BJP two, and the Bahujan Samaj Party one. One seat is held by an Independent MLA.