Sangrur records over 45% turnout; worst since 1991
Polling during the byelection for the Lok Sabha seat passes off peacefully; turnout remains poor across all assembly seats
SANGRUR: Amid a poor turnout of 45.3%, worst since 1991, the polling for the Sangrur Lok Sabha byelection went off peacefully on Thursday, as the voters sealed the fate of 16 candidates, including three women, in the fray. The figures were provided by the Sangrur DC, who is also the returning officer, around midnight. The counting will take place on Sunday.
The polling that began amid tight security at 8am continued till 6pm. However, there were hardly any queues witnessed at polling stations across the nine assembly constituencies under the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat.
While urban voters clearly lacked enthusiasm, majority of the farmers and labourers were busy in paddy transplantation in rural areas, leading to the poor turnout. According to figures released by the administration till 5pm, with 41.56% votes polled, Malerkotla segment saw the highest turnout, while Lehra witnessed the lowest at 32%.
Dirba saw 40.58% polling, followed by 38.03% in Bhadaur, 37% in Mehal Kalan, 36.3% in Barnala, 36% in Sangrur, 34% in Sunam and 33% in Dhuri. These figures are expected to rise after the final compilation, which was not made available till the filing of this report around midnight.
“No incident of violence was recorded in any of the segments under the parliamentary constituency,” said Sangrur senior superintendent of police Mandeep Singh Sidhu.
The Sangrur parliament seat witnessed the worst turnout in 1991, when only about 11% voters cast their ballot amid militancy in the state. In the seven general elections and byelections held after that, the voting turnout remained between 62.5% (1999) and 77.2% (2014). The previous
election saw 72.4% turnout (2019). There are 15.69 lakh eligible voters in Sangrur, according to the electoral records.
Mukesh Malaud, president of the Zameen Prapti Sangharsh Committee, said the paddy transplantation was one of the factors that affected the voting turnout. “A large number of labourers skipped this democratic exercise due to paddy transplantation besides other reasons,” he said.
Earlier, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Gurmail Singh, his wife and mother were among the first voters to cast their ballot at Gharachon village, while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Kewal Singh Dhillon and his family exercised their franchise at Barnala. Congress candidate Dalvir Singh Goldy voted in Dhuri.
The state election commission had set up nine pink booths, one for each constituency, to encourage participation of women voters. The parliamentary segment is a bastion of the Aam Aadmi Party since 2014, when chief minister Bhagwant Mann won from here with a margin of over one lakh votes. He retained the seat in 2019, and surrendered it after winning the recent assembly elections from Dhuri, necessitating the bypoll.