Chandigarh (Punjab): Over 4.07 per cent of voting was recorded till 9 am in the Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll on Thursday. Amidst the opposition heat over the deteriorating law and order situation and the killing of famed singer Sidhu Moose Wala, the casting of votes for the bypoll of the Sangrur parliamentary constituency in the AAP-ruled Punjab began at 8 am. The counting of ballots will take place on June 26.
A total of 15,69,240 voters will be exercising their franchise at 1,766 polling booths of which 296 are vulnerable. The bypoll for AAP-stronghold Sangrur was necessitated following the resignation of Bhagwant Mann, who won the Assembly election in February from the Dhuri Assembly constituency and became the Chief Minister. A total of 16 candidates are in the fray for the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat by-election, including 13 male and three female candidates.
This parliamentary seat fell vacant after Bhagwant Mann became an MLA and the Chief Minister. The Election Commission and the government have announced a holiday in view of the by-election on Thursday. The AAP has fielded Mann's confidant Gurmail Singh, 38, while death row convicts Balwant Singh Rajoana's foster sister Kamaldeep Kaur, 44, is in the fray on the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) ticket.
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The other key contenders are BJP's Kewal Dhillon, 72, and Dalvir Singh Goldy, 40, of the Congress. Both are former legislators. Mann had won his first election as Sangrur MP in 2014 with a record margin of over 2.10 lakh votes defeating SAD candidate Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. In 2019 Mann was the lone AAP MP in Parliament and he had defeated the then Congress candidate Kewal Singh Dhillon by more than 1.1 lakh votes.
In the 2022 Assembly elections, AAP recorded a thumping win by bagging 92 out of 117 Assembly seats. The ruling Congress won 18, down from 77 in 2017. All nine Assembly constituencies coming under the Sangrur parliamentary seat were won by AAP MLAs with a record mandate. Police and paramilitary forces were deployed across the constituency to conduct the elections in a free and fair manner. The administration said that all the AROs and police officers were keeping a close watch on the distribution of liquor, drugs and money to entice the voters and would conduct raids as soon as any tip-off or complaint was received. (With Agency inputs)
