63% turnout in Himachal’s Bhoranj
63.26% polling was recorded across the ninety-nine polling stations of Bhoranj assembly constituency during voting for the by-election on Sunday.
Polling began at 8.00 am and continued throughout the day till 5.00 pm. As per official sources, 57.76 % polling was recorded till 3.30 pm while the final figures reached 63.26% as polling ended.
Polling started an hour late at six polling stations due to faulty electronic voter machines (EVM). Subsequently, new EVMs were arranged and polling resumed.
A number of octogenarians and visually-impaired persons spotted casting their votes at various polling stations in the constituency.
There are five candidates in the poll fray — Anil Dhiman of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Promila Devi of Congress , Pavan Chandel, Ramesh Dogra and Kusum Azad (all independent candidates).
Former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and his family cast their votes at the Samirpur polling station.
Dhumal claimed that his party was sure to win the election as people were voting enmassee for the BJP candidate.
Member of Parliament Anurag Thakur, who arrived at a polling station with his wife, also cast his vote and told the media that a pro-BJP wave was blowing in the constituency and victory of the BJP candidate was a given.
Counting will take place on April 13 at Bhoranj school building and till then release of any election-related survey is not allowed.
In the 2012 general elections,
VOTING COULD NOT BEGIN ON TIME AT SIX POLLING STATIONS DUE TO FAULTY ELECTRONIC VOTER MACHINES; AN HOUR LATER, NEW EVMS WERE ARRANGED AND POLLING RESUMED
64.6 % polling was recorded in Bhoranj (Reserve) seat. ID Dhiman of the Bharatiya Janata Party had won the election, securing 27,324 votes as opposed to the 16,908 votes won by Ramesh Dogra of Congress.
Deputy commissioner-cumreturning officer Madan Chauhan and district police chief Ajay Bodh were among the team of district officers that was present in the constituency and supervised the election process.
Meanwhile, district police chief claimed that the polling took place in a peaceful manner and no untoward incident was reported from any part of the constituency.