Haryana records voter turnout of 50 per cent (Lead)

Chandigarh, May 25 (IANS) Haryana recorded a voter turnout of 50.1 per cent, till 4 p.m., for all the 10 Lok Sabha seats of the state with polling, by and large, peaceful except for some minor skirmishes.

The polling for the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections will officially close at 6 p.m.

Notable candidates for the Lok Sabha elections include Union Ministers Rao Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjar, former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar (all BJP), and Congress heavyweights Deepender Singh Hooda, Raj Babbar, and Kumari Selja.

While most seats are witnessing a direct contest between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress, some constituencies like Hisar are experiencing a multi-cornered battle with the Chautala clan in the fray.

According to Election Commission figures, after polling began at 7 a.m., the overall turnout was 8.31 per cent at 9 a.m., 31.9 per cent at 1 p.m. and rose to 44.2 per cent at 3 p.m.

Electors across the state reached polling stations even before voting started at 7 a.m.

A total of 2,00,76,786 voters, including 94 lakh women, will decide the fate of 223 candidates, after weeks of intense campaigning and heated barbs.

In Sonipat’s Sersa Jati village, 51-year-old clerk Virender died of a heart attack during election duty. In Rohtak, booth workers of the Congress complained that BJP leader and former minister Manish Grover gained unauthorised entry to booth number 118 near ITI in Rohtak city and tried to intimidate voters. However, no other untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the state.

Besides the Lok Sabha polls, there is a by-poll for the Karnal Assembly seat, the seat vacated by Khattar, where Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, the outgoing Lok Sabha MP from Kurukshetra, is among the nine candidates in the fray. Saini had replaced Khattar as the Chief Minister in March.

Leader of Opposition and two-time Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda told the media after casting his vote in Rohtak: “Voting is happening peacefully and trends are in favour of the Congress.” He appealed to people to exercise their right to vote and vote in large numbers.

BJP leader and richest Indian woman with a $33 billion net worth, Savitri Jindal, whose youngest son Naveen Jindal is also in the fray from Kurukshetra, cast her vote in her hometown Hisar. After casting the vote, she told the media that the country has developed at a fast pace under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. Seemingly confident about the BJP’s prospects in the general elections, she added: “Prime Minister Modi will be elected for a third consecutive term.”

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, approximately 70 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the state, which was higher than the national average. In that year the BJP had won all 10 constituencies, with a vote share of 58 per cent, improving its tally from 2014 when it managed to win seven out of the eight constituencies it had contested. However, the BJP’s vote share slipped to 22 per cent in the Assembly polls in October 2019.

–IANS

vg/vd