Punjab registers 62% voter turnout
Punjab registers 62% voter turnout
Chandigarh: Barring a few skirmishes between rival political groups, the polling to nine Lok Sabha seats in Punjab was by and large peaceful with an estimated 62% voters exercising their franchise on Wednesday.
For the lone Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat, nearly 60% turnout was reported as voting passed off peacefully in the Union Territory.
In Punjab, rural voters turned out more in numbers than their urban counterparts as the political fate of a number of stalwarts including Lok Sabha deputy speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal (SAD), actor-politician Vinod Khanna (BJP) and former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu (BJP), were sealed in EVMs.
Other notable contestants included sugar baron Rana Gurjit Singh (Congress), former Punjab governor Lt Gen (Retd) B K N Chhibber (BSP), singer-turned-politician Hans Raj Hans (SAD) and chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s political advisor Daljeet Singh Cheema.
Two journalists of private TV channels were allegedly attacked by activists of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) at Duneke village on the outskirts of Moga town.
The scribes were taking footages of SAD workers, who were allegedly carrying weapons, which irked the ruling party activists leading to the assault.
SAD supporters allegedly fired a shot in the air and threw some chemical substance on one of the journalists which was denied by Moga Police chief Ashok Kumar Bath.
Two Congress MLAs - Joginderpal Jain (Moga) and Darshan Singh Brar (Baghapurana) - were booked as skirmishes between SAD and Congress activists occurred at some places during polling.
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