3-tier security in place for counting today
JALANDHAR: High-security arrangements have been made for the counting of votes for the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll on Saturday.
The constituency recorded 54.70% of polling with 8,97,154 exercising their franchise out of the total 16,21,800 registered voters.
The district administration has set up counting centres at Director Land Records, state patwar school and sports college complex on Kapurthala road here. The counting will be done in nine rounds.
The security has beefed up in and around strong rooms and counting centres with companies of paramilitary forces and Punjab police being part of the 3-tier security arrangements.
Deputy commissioner Jaspreet Singh said all the arrangements have been made for the counting of votes.
“No one will be allowed to go inside without having the required identity card issued by the district administration or election commission of India,” the DC said.
The byelection was necessitated after sitting Congress MP Santokh Chaudhary died due to a heart attack while taking part in the Punjab leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra of Congress leader
Rahul Gandhi on January 14.
As many as 19 candidates, including 15 males and four females, were in the fray.
The AAP had fielded turncoat Sushil Kumar Rinku, while the Congress has reposed trust in the Chaudhary family by giving a ticket to Santokh’s wife Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary. From the SADBSP, sitting MLA Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi was in the fray, while the BJP had chosen Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, who had switched to the saffron party after snapping ties with the SAD.
Meanwhile, the stakes are high for all the political outfits as they carried out extensive 27-day-long campaigning as their top leadership camped in this Dalit-dominant constituency to woo voters for their respective candidates. This electoral battle has been a prestige issue for all the parties as it is likely to set the tone for the 2024 general elections in the state.
The constituency is often dubbed as Congress’ stronghold belt but in the 2022 assembly polls, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) managed to make inroads. However, AAP failed to end Congress’ supremacy even with a wave working in its favour across the state. AAP which made a clean sweep in the Malwa region faced stiff competition from the opposition Congress in Jalandhar.
In the 2022 polls, the Congress had won five out of nine segments in the Jalandhar parliamentary constituency, while the AAP bagged the remaining seats.