61% voter turn out in repolling at 73 Kairana booths

Repolling at 73 booths in Kairana Lok Sabha constituency passed off peacefully on Wednesday with an estimated voter turn out of 61 per cent, the state election office said in Lucknow.

The Election Commission on Tuesday ordered repolling at these polling stations in view of technical snags in EVM-VVPAT machines during the bye-election on Monday.

Around 80,000 voters were eligible to cast their votes at the booths where the repolling was held on Wednesday.

Opposition Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal as well as the ruling BJP had complained of electronic voting machines (EVM) malfunctioning at these booths.

The repoll began at 7 am and ended at 5 pm in 23 polling stations at Nakur, 44 in Gangoh and one station at Thana Bhawan in Saharanpur and five in Shamli.

On Monday, 54% polling was recorded in Kairana seat, which fell vacant following the death of BJP MP Hukum Singh, whose daughter Mriganka Singh is the saffron party candidate in the bypoll.

Mriganka Singh is contesting against Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Tabassum Hasan, who is also supported by the Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party. Counting of votes will take place on Thursday.