Nearly 52 pc voting in Haryana till 4 pm; polling peaceful

Press Trust of India  |  Chandigarh 

A voter turnout of 51.93 per cent was recorded till 4 pm in the 10 Lok Sabha seats in on Sunday, with and constituencies witnessing brisk polling.

Polling began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm, officials said.

While poll officials said voting was going on smoothly, Congress' candidate Deepender Singh Hooda, who is seeking re-election for a fourth term, accused and MLA of "intimidating" voters by forcibly entering some polling booths.

Grover, however, rejected the charge claiming that Deepender Singh Hooda, who is the son of former Hooda, made baseless allegations in the face of "imminent defeat".

The poll percentage recorded till 4 pm was 51.93 per cent, poll officials said.

Kurukshetra, from where is pitted against Congress' Nirmal Singh and INLD's Arjun Chautala, recorded a poll percentage of 56.99 while recorded 55.50 per cent voting.

Sirsa, Karnal, Bhiwani-Mahendergarh, Sonipat, Rohtak, Gurgaon, and registered polling percentage of 52.71, 47.31, 53.32, 52.59, 52.74, 49.53, 49.71 and 50.81 respectively, officials said.

Indian Virat Kohli, was among early the voters, exercised his franchise at a polling booth in

After casting his vote, he posted a picture of his inked finger on and wrote, "Voting is your right and responsibility towards nation building. Go vote."

Polling was initially slow in some constituencies, including and Rohtak, but started to pick pace as the day progressed.

Polling was going on peacefully across the state, Haryana's electoral officer said, adding there were some glitches in EVMs and VVPATs at a few booths early in the morning, but those were replaced immediately.

Minister was among the early voters in while former Hooda of the Congress, fighting the elections from Sonipat, cast his vote at Kiloi in district. chief exercised his franchise in (JJP) candidate and the sitting in also cast his vote in

JJP Digvijay Chautala, a candidate from Sonipat, alleged that at booths 88, 89 and 90 in district, his party symbol (a pair of slippers) were "not clearly visible on EVM machines".

"This is a serious matter and the must look into this," he said.

Enthusiastic voters were seen at several places. A bridegroom went to cast his vote in Mullana in parliamentary constituency before solemnising his marriage.

At and Hisar, voters queued up since early morning to cast their vote. There were reports of a few centenarians also exercising their franchise.

Som Dutt (98) exercised his franchise at a booth in Yamunanagar while 92-year-old who reached the booth on a wheelchair cast her vote in city.

said over 1.80 crore people are eligible to vote in the state. Altogether, 223 candidates, just 11 of them women, are in the fray.

Prominent among them are Union ministers of state from and Krishan Pal Gurjar from

Deepender Hooda, is seeking re-election for the fourth term from Rohtak as a nominee.

Birender Singh's son (BJP) and former Bhajan Lal's grandson (Congress), both political greenhorns, are contesting from the Hisar Lok Sabha seat, where they face JJP's Dushyant Chautala, who is the grandson of former O P Chautala.

Former and chief are fighting from Ambala and Sirsa, respectively, for the party. state is contesting from

Among the major parties in the fight are the BJP, the Congress and the INLD, which are fighting the 10 seats independently.

The (JJP), which was formed after a split in the six months ago, is contesting on seven seats, while the remaining three seats are being fought by its ally the

The BSP is fighting on eight seats, leaving two for its ally the floated by rebel BJP

Notably, all the major players in Haryana are eyeing good performance in the Lok Sabha polls as the outcome could have a bearing on the Vidhan Sabha polls which are due in October.

In the 2014 parliamentary polls, the BJP contested eight seats and won seven. Its then ally the Haryana Janhit Congress had fought on two seats, losing both. The won two seats and the Congress could retain only the Rohtak seat last time.

A large number of women were seen in queues at the tastefully decorated 'Sakhi Matdan Kendras', which are exclusively run by women and have been set up in each assembly segment.

Officials said that necessary arrangements, including those pertaining to security, have been put in place to ensure smooth polling.

As many as 19,441 polling stations have been set up in the state, including 5,510 in urban areas and 13,931 in rural areas. Webcasting is being done in 1,020 polling booths while 67,000 security personnel have been mobilised to ensure smooth conduct of the polls.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Sun, May 12 2019. 17:16 IST