At 73%, Haryana’s northwestern districts record highest turnout
Voting in 8 districts of southern state comprising 29 seats was 66%, lowest among all regions
CHANDIGARH: The three districts of Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa that form northwestern Haryana and comprise 15 assembly seats registered the highest voter turnout among all regions of the state at about 73% during the polling for the assembly elections held on Monday.
The turnout in eight districts of southern Haryana having 29 seats was 66%, the lowest among all the four regions. These districts are Gurgaon, Faridabad, Palwal, Mewat, Rewari, Mahendragarh, Bhiwani and Charkhi Dadri.
The turnout was 68% each in seven northern districts — Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Karnal and Panipat — having 27 assembly constituencies and four central districts having 19 seats. Sonepat, Rohtak, Jind and Jhajjar are central districts in the state.
In the 2014 assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had performed well in the northern and southern parts. The saffron party candidates won on 21 of the 27 seats in the north. In south, it won 17 seats including all the 11 seats in
Gurugram, Rewari and Mahendergarh districts. The party won 3 seats in north western region and five in central districts.
JAT-DOMINATED SEATS POLL HEAVILY AGAIN
The turnout in about 40 assembly segments where Jats have a dominant presence was about 67% this time as compared to 73 % in 2014. But considering the fact that overall poll percentage this time decreased to 69% from 76% in 2014, the turnout looks impressive. Experts say that a heavy turnout in the Jat-dominated seats should not be construed as high percentage of polling by the Jats alone. “What it could also mean is consolidation of non-jat castes,’’ said an analyst.
Only six Jats from the BJP won in 2014 assembly polls – two in the northwestern part (Capt
Abhimanyu and Subhash Barala), two in central Haryana (Prem Lata and OP Dhankar), and one each in northern (Mahipal Dhanda) and southern part (Sukhvinder Sheoran) of the state. Central Haryana also known as the Jat heartland has the highest number of Jat-dominated seats, about 17, where the BJP won only five, including two won by the Jat candidates in 2014.