Shahkot bypoll: 31% voter turnout till 11am, seven VVPATs replaced after glitches

The bypoll is being seen as a popularity test of the 14-month-old Congress government in Punjab.

punjab Updated: May 28, 2018 12:08 IST
Voters with their ID cards outside a polling booth during in Lohian on Monday.

Shahkot witnessed a turnout of 31% voters until 11am on Monday morning. The voting for the bypoll, necessitated by the death of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Ajit Singh Kohar, began at 7 am.

More than 1.72 lakh voters— 89,181 male and 83,502 female, and three from the third gender—will seal the fate of 12 candidates in the fray for the bypoll.

Candidates, including Naib Singh Kohar of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Hardev Singh Ladi Sherowalia of Congress cast their ballots at their respective booths in the morning itself, while Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Rattan Singh Kakkar Kalan is expected to cast his vote at 1pm. Padma Shri and Environmentalist Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal also turned out to cast his vote at his Seechewal village.

All the 236 polling booths in the constituency are equipped with voter verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines. Heavy security comprising over 2000 personnel from six companies of the Border Security Force (BSF), has been deployed for the free and fair conduct of the polls.

90-year-old Gurjant Singh at the polling booth after cast his vote in Talwandi Madho village near Malsian in Shahkot on Monday. (Pardeep Pandit/HT )

The bypoll is being seen as a popularity test of the 14-month-old Congress government in the state. The Captain Amarinder Singh-led government has been facing criticism from the opposition for not fulfilling promises made to the voters in the run-up to the 2017 assembly elections.

Meanwhile, one control unit at booth number 216 and three VVPAT machines at booth numbers 169, 170 and 222 were replaced during mock poll due to technical snag, while seven VVPATs at 27, 28, 132 (2), 39, 224 and 45 booth number were replaced during actual polling.