80% voting amid stray violence in Punjab panchayat elections
CHANDIGARH: An elderly voter was killed at a Ferozepur polling station as stray incidents of violence were reported in Punjab during the panchayat elections that saw nearly 80% turnout.
Voters had started queuing up outside polling stations at 8 am, braving cold weather, before voting closed at 4 pm to elect sarpanches and panches for 13,276 villages.
The counting that began immediately after the polls showed that Congress---backed candidates were set to sweep polls. The Akali Dal alleged massive rigging in the polls.
Congress candidate Jabarjang Singh Mukka was elected the sarpanch of Badal, the native village of former CM Parkash Singh Badal. Mukka defeated SAD candidate Uday Singh Dhillon by 376 votes.
In Ferozepur, Mohinder Singh, 60, was killed after being hit by the vehicle of some unidentified miscreants who set the papers kept inside a ballot box on fire. About 12-15 unidentified people reached a polling booth at the government primary school in Mamdot block in an SUV bearing a Maharashtra registration number and allegedly burnt the ballot papers. While they were fleeing, their vehicle hit Mohinder, who was rushed to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, said police. In a Tarn Taran village, an argument broke out between Congress and SAD supporters and it was followed by a scuffle in which two people sustained head injuries.
In Amritsar, minor violence was reported in 10 villages. Nearly 15 unidentified men entered a polling station Ladeh village in Rajasansi block of the district and tore ballot papers.
SAD workers led by senior leader Sucha Singh Langah blocked a road in a village in Gurdaspur district, alleging booth capturing by Congress workers. Post-poll violence was also reported from some places, including Bathinda and Patiala districts. There were reports of gunshots being fired in the air in Jalal village of Bathinda and Bosar Kalan village in Patiala’s Sanaur block.
CONGRESS-BACKED CANDIDATES SET TO SWEEP POLLS, AN ELDERLY VOTER DIES IN VIOLENCE IN FEROZEPUR; CLASHES, FIRING WITNESSED IN PATIALA, AMRITSAR, TARN TARAN, BATHINDA