Chandigarh, Jun 1 (PTI) Punjab saw a voter turnout of 55.20 per cent till 5 pm for the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies while polling remained peaceful on Saturday, said the officials.
In the lone parliamentary seat of Chandigarh, the voter turnout was at 62.80 per cent.
The polling came to an end at 6 pm but the turnout figure will rise as there were several people in queues waiting for their turn to cast votes.
In 2019, voter turnout in Punjab was 65.96 per cent and 70.62 per cent in the Union Territory (UT) Chandigarh.
Polling began at 7 am amid tight security arrangements, the officials said.
Among the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in Punjab, Bathinda recorded a turnout of 59.25, followed by Gurdaspur with 58.34 per cent, according to the Election Commission data.
The polling percentage in Amritsar was 48.55, Khadoor Sahib 55.90, Jalandhar 53.66, Hoshiarpur 52.39, Anandpur Sahib 55.02, Ludhiana 52.22, Fatehgarh Sahib 54.55, Faridkot 54.38, Ferozepur 57.68, Sangrur 57.21 and Patiala 58.18, the data showed.
Among the prominent faces in the fray are BJP nominee and four-time MP Preneet Kaur, who is seeking re-election from the Patiala parliamentary constituency; and Harsimrat Badal, a three-time MP; and BJP’s Parampal Kaur Sidhu, a former IAS officer, who are trying their luck from Bathinda.
Former chief minister and Congress candidate Charanjit Singh Channi and BJP nominee Sushil Rinku are in the fray from the Jalandhar reserved seat.
Former deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa is contesting from Gurdaspur, while Congress state chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring is contesting against BJP’s Ravneet Singh Bittu from Ludhiana.
Radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh, who is lodged in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act (NSA), is fighting from Khadoor Sahib.
In Chandigarh, BJP candidate Sanjay Tandon is pitted against Congress nominee and former Union minister Manish Tewari.
A total of 328 candidates, including 26 women, are in the fray in Punjab while 19 candidates, including two women, are contesting the elections in Chandigarh, the officials said.
Drinking water, shades, ‘chabeel’ (sweetened water), medical kits, oral rehydration solution (ORS) and the likes have been arranged at polling stations given the heatwave conditions, the officials said.
A total of 2,14,61,739 voters, including 1,01,74,240 women and 773 third-gender electors, are eligible to vote in Punjab. In Chandigarh, 6,59,805 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.
For the 13 Lok Sabha seats, a total of 24,451 polling stations were set up. Out of these, 5,694 polling stations were identified as critical. PTI CHS VSD KSS KSS
About the Author
