Chandigarh, Oct 5 (UNI) Around 61.19 percent of the electors cast their franchise till 7 pm as the single-phase election to the 90 Assembly constituencies in Haryana passed off largely peacefully barring some stray incidents on Saturday.
As of 7 pm, a voter turnout of 61.19 percent was recorded across the over 20,000 polling stations. said Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal. Although the scheduled time of votng got over at 6 pm, all those who queued up before the booths till then were allowed to vote beyond the polling hours.
Voting began at 7 am and voters from all sections of society were seen queuing up at the polling stations. With a significant population of elderly voters, many centenarians were seen participating with enthusiasm in the biggest festival of democracy.
In Hisar district, clashes were reported between supporters of the BJP candidate and former minister Captain Abhimanyu and those of Congress nominee Jassi Petwad in Khanda Khedi village.
Sources said the fight erupted after an argument between two groups near the Shaheed Bhagat Singh School polling booth. Police, soon, intervened and brought the situation under control.
Also, reports reaching from Fatehabad said an independent candidate Kaka Chowdhry alleged that a former councillor was trying to buy votes. Police had to intervene to restore order. Clashes were also reported from Dhokhera village of Nangal Choudhry constituency.
Among the prominent personalities who cast their vote are BJP leaders Chief Minister Naib Singh Saini and his predecessor Manohar Lal Khattar. Among the state Congress stalwarts, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son Deepender Hooda and party MP Kumari Selja exercised their democratic choice.
Adding more colour to the vibrant polling, BJP MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal came to vote on horseback.
A total of 1031 candidates, including 101 women, are in the fray, with the ruling BJP seeking a third successive term and the Congress aiming to return to power after 10 years. Candidates of the Jannayak Janata Party-Azad Samaj Party alliance and the Indian National Lok Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party combine, besides the Aam Aadmi Party contestants are also trying their electoral luck.
In the Lok Sabha polls held earlier in the year, voter turnout of 64.8 percent was recorded in the state.
Chief Election Commission (CEC) Rajiv Kumar along with ECs Gyanesh Kumar and Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu kept a close watch on the poll process from Nirvachan Sadan.
As directed by the Commission, webcasting was done in all the polling stations to keep strict and constant vigil over the poll proceedings. 97 Central Observers were deployed by the Commission for on-field monitoring and constant feedback.
The results are slated to be declared alongside that of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls on October 8.
