Chandigarh: Elections in Punjab were held in a single phase and voting began at 8 am on February 20. The voting percentage was very low in the initial hours and till 9 am only 4.8 per cent voting could be reported. This slow process continued till 1 pm as just 34.1 percent cast their votes. Later, the momentum picked up a bit and by 3 pm, the voting percentage reached 49.81 percent and by 5 pm the voting percentage reached 63.44 percent, according to the election commission report.
However, the percentage of voting was less compared to the 2017 elections. At that time there were around 1 crore 90 lakh voters and the voting percentage was 77.20 and this time till 6 pm out of 21499804 voters only 65 percent of the voters cast their vote.
Voting took place more in villages than in cities, even after 6 pm, voters were seen queuing up to cast their votes at some booths. The voting percentage was low in the cities of Ludhiana, Amritsar, and Jalandhar, while the districts of Bathinda, Mansa, Sangrur, Barnala, and Malerkotla witnessed bumper voting. There were 5 districts of the state where voters did not show much interest in voting.
In these, the voting could not even touch the 65% mark. However, there were 12 districts in the state in which the voter turnout has crossed 70%. Out of these, Mansa recorded the highest voter turnout of 78.7%, while Amritsar district recorded the lowest voter turnout of 61.2% in the state, said Election Commission.
Amritsar East was hailed as the hot seat of Punjab since it witnessed a big clash between maverick Navjot Sidhu and Bikram Majithia, however, the voter turnout was just 53%. Whereas, the constituency of Parkash Singh Badal, who is fighting for re-election at the age of 94, recorded more than 72 percent voting. The veteran looks to emerge, winner, going by the locals' discussion.
Similarly, in Jalalabad seat of Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal, more than 71 percent voting was recorded and he seems to be in a strong position as there is no strong candidate against him.
The voting in Captain Amarinder Singh's Patiala seat was only up to 60 percent. He is beset with challenges because of a new party, but he is also confident of victory. Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur, the constituencies of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, recorded 68 and 71 percent polling, respectively. In both the seats, he is up against tough candidates and political pundits are unable to guess which side the camel will sit on.
Aam Aadmi Party President Bhagwant Mann is contesting from Dhuri. There was 68 percent voting and he is giving a good fight to sitting Congress MLA Dalbir Goldie. It is noteworthy that the polling time in Punjab was till 6 pm, but due to long queues of voters in many places, voting continued till late and the final figures could not be clear. The said polling percentage is till 5 pm.
