Ludhiana, Jun 19 (PTI) The bypoll to the Ludhiana West Assembly seat in Punjab on Thursday recorded a voter turnout of 51.33 per cent, a sharp drop from 64 per cent polling registered in the 2022 Assembly elections.
The polling, which remained peaceful, sealed the fate of 14 candidates in the fray for the urban constituency, which fell vacant after the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January.
The counting of votes will be taken up on June 23..
The polling began amid tight security arrangements at 7 am and ended at 6 pm.
Punjab’s Chief Electoral Officer Sibin C said as per data uploaded till 7 pm, the voter turnout was 51.33 per cent.
Polling data were uploaded by the presiding officers on the ECINET app, Sibin said.
In the first two hours of polling till 9 pm, the voting percentage was 8.50 per cent, which went up to 21.51 per cent at 11 am, as per the Election Commission data.
The voting percentage increased to 33.42 per cent at 1 pm and to 41.04 per cent at 3 pm, the data showed.
Voters, including women and the elderly, began arriving at the polling stations in the morning, and their numbers grew as the day progressed.
A total of 1,75,469 voters were eligible to determine the fate of the 14 candidates in fray, including 85,371 women and 10 belonging to the third gender.
The bypoll is being seen as a litmus test for the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government and the ruling party’s national leadership, which aggressively campaigned to retain the seat. The bypoll’s outcome will throw light on the popularity of the AAP regime’s policies and programmes among the urban voters of the constituency.
Stakes are also high for the Congress, the main opposition party that won the seat six times in the past. Prestige is at stake for the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) as well.
AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora exercised his franchise along with his family members in the morning, and later paid obeisance at a gurdwara, a temple and the Dargah Pir in Phillaur.
Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, Arora appealed to the people to come out in large numbers to cast their votes.
Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu, BJP nominee Jiwan Gupta and SAD’s Parupkar Singh Ghuman also cast their votes.
Ahead of the polling, Chief Minister Mann appealed to the voters to exercise their franchise.
“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 as a holiday, go and cast your vote,” Mann said in a post on X in Punjabi.
A total of 194 polling stations were set up with 100 per cent live webcasting, officials said.
Outside the entrance of the polling stations, designated counters were set up for the voters to deposit their mobile devices, which were managed by trained volunteers.
“In a first-of-its-kind initiative, all polling stations in Ludhiana West made arrangements for safe mobile phone deposit to enhance the voter experience,” Sibin said in a post on X.
The polling stations were also equipped with wheelchairs and help desks to assist the voters, the officials said.
Pickup and drop facility was also provided for the senior citizens and persons with disabilities.
Keeping the hot weather conditions in mind, drinking water and ‘chabeel’ (sweetened water) were arranged for the voters at polling stations .
A mock poll was carried out using the electronic voting machines (EVM) at every polling station before the voting begun in the presence of 578 polling agents appointed by the different candidates, officials said.
Outside one of the polling stations, BJP’s Gupta and Congress candidate Ashu were seen hugging each other.
At another polling station, SAD’s Ghuman was seen touching the feet of Mamta Ashu, the wife of Congress’ Ashu.
The voting process was monitored real-time from the integrated command and control centre at the district administrative complex. A total of 235 CCTV cameras were installed at the polling stations, the officials said.
According to the revised instructions of the Election Commission, the candidates were allowed to set up their booths at a distance of 100 metres from the entrance of the polling stations.
AAP candidate Arora, a Rajya Sabha member, is a Ludhiana-based industrialist who also runs the Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Charitable Trust.
The Congress has placed its bet on former minister and Punjab Congress working president Ashu, who represented the seat twice between 2012 and 2022, before losing to Gogi by a margin of 7,512 votes.
BJP candidate Gupta is a member of Punjab BJP’s core committee, who earlier served as the party’s state general secretary.
SAD nominee Ghuman is a lawyer and former president of the Ludhiana Bar Association. PTI CHS VSD ARI ARI
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.