14 injured in clashes as round 2 sees 80% polling
Results were declared after counting of votes to elect sarpanches and panches in 57 blocks of the nine districts
KARNAL/ROHTAK/AMBALA: Fourteen people, including two contenders, sustained injuries in clashes at various places in Haryana on Saturday during the second phase of polling for gram panchayats in nine districts of the state that registered a voter turnout of 80.6%.
The polling, which began at 7 am and continued till 6 pm, will elect sarpanches and panches of 2,684 village panchayats in the nine districts of Ambala, Charkhi Dadri, Gurugram, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Rewari, Rohtak, Sirsa, Sonepat.
There are 400 panchayats in Ambala, 165 in Charkhi Dadri, 157 in Gurugram, 395 in Karnal, 403 in Kurukshetra, 365 in Rewari, 142 in Rohtak, 339 in Sirsa and 318 in Sonepat.
Haryana State Election Commissioner Dhanpat Singh said that the second phase of polling for gram panchayats in Haryana remained peaceful and 80.6% people voted in this election.
In this phase, voting was held for 2,684 sarpanches and 25,655 posts of panches in 57 blocks of the nine districts.
“Due to wrong printing of ballot paper in Ward No. 4 and 6, repoll has been scheduled for the post of panch of Lisana village of Rewari on November 14,” he added.
Singh said that a total of 47,39,763 voters exercised their franchise in the second phase.
He said that at some places, some incidents related to malfunctioning of EVMs were reported, but officers involved in the election process immediately replaced that machine and got the polling restarted.
“After the polling was over, the polling staff declared the election results after counting the votes of the candidates for the post of panch and sarpanch. The polling staff, police personnel and other officials engaged in the election performed their duties well,” he added.
Volence in Karnal, Rewari, Rohtak and Ambala
Four people, including a polling agent and a contender, were injured in a group clash in Fatehgarh village of Nissing block in Karnal district. According to police, the clash erupted after heated arguments between polling agents of two contenders following which polling was stopped for three hours. Karnal superintendent of police Ganga Ram Punia said that an FIR has been registered against 30 people, including 18 by name and polling was completed later after deployment of more police personnel.
He said that no other incident of violence was reported from the district as the polling was conducted peacefully.
However, the voting continued till late evening as people were lined up to exercise their franchise at several polling stations even after 7pm.
In Rewari, as many as nine persons suffered injuries in a clash between two groups outside a polling booth in Kasauli village under Bawal Sub-division. However, after the clash, no one lodged a complaint with the police in this regard.
The incident took place when an agent of one of the candidates for the post of sarpanch objected to the presence of a man inside the booth, who was assisting an old man to cast his vote. It took a violent turn when another agent of a rival candidate engaged in a verbal spat with him over the issue. In Rohtak’s Ghraunti village, two groups engaged in a spat and thrashed each other. However, no one lodged an FIR.
In Jansua village of Ambala-1 block, a case of attempted murder was lodged against eight men after a panch candidate Shingara Singh received head injuries following an alleged scuffle with another group.
Superintendent of police Jashandeep Singh Randhawa said that a case was registered at Naggal police station and the accused will be arrested soon.
“We have also identified 30 arm holders in the district, who failed to submit the weapons to the police stations before the elections and cases have been registered against them,” he said