Chandigarh, Nov 3 (PTI) A turnout of 55 per cent was recorded three hours before deadline in Haryana’s Adampur Assembly segment where by-elections are underway on Thursday, data showed.
The outcome of the bypoll will decide if the Bhajan Lal family will retain the family bastion of five decades.
Polling began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm. Nearly 1.71 lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes. Counting of votes will be taken up on November 6.
A poll percentage of 10.5 was recorded in the first two hours. The turnout hit 22.51 per cent at 11 am, 41.24 per cent at 1 pm and 55.12 per cent till 3 pm, according to Election Commission of India data.
Polling was going on in a smooth and peaceful manner, officials said.
“Polling is going on peacefully,” Haryana’s Chief Electoral Officer, Anurag Agarwal told PTI over phone.
Twenty-two candidates, all men, are in the fray. The main parties contesting are the BJP, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal, and the Aam Aadmi Party.
A total of 180 polling booths have been set up, 36 of them have been termed “sensitive” and 39 “hypersensitive.” Tight security arrangements have been made by the district administration to conduct the polling in a free, fair, and peaceful manner, officials said.
At many polling booths, long queues of voters were witnessed, many among them women.
First-time voters were brimming with excitement as they flashed the indelible ink mark on their finger before photographers after casting their votes.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar appealed to the Adampur electorate to vote in large numbers.
The bypoll was necessitated after former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal’s younger son Kuldeep Bishnoi resigned as MLA and switched from the Congress to the BJP in August.
Bishnoi’s son Bhavya, who is contesting as the BJP candidate, had also quit the Congress and joined the BJP.
Bhavya, 29, had lost the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Hisar to BJP’s bureaucrat-turned-politician Brijendra Singh.
The Congress has fielded former Union minister Jai Prakash, a three-time MP from Hisar and two-time MLA as well. The INLD has nominated Congress rebel Kurda Ram Nambardar while the AAP has fielded Satender Singh, who switched over from the BJP.
Kuldeep Bishnoi defeated the late Sonali Phogat, who had contested on a BJP ticket, in Adampur in the Assembly elections of 2019.
Adampur has been the Bhajan Lal family’s citadel since 1968.
Kuldeep Bishnoi, his mother Jasma Devi, son Bhavya, and wife Renuka turned up early at the polling booth to cast their votes.
“Everyone should come and cast their vote,” Kuldeep Bishnoi told reporters after casting his vote.
On Congress candidate Jai Prakash, the senior Bishnoi said he would make a record of losing to the third generation of Bhajan Lal’s family.
“He will make a record of losing to the third generation of the Bhajan Lal family. First he lost to Chaudhary Bhajan Lal, then he lost against me (Hisar Lok Sabha polls earlier) and now he will lose to Bhavya,” he claimed.
On the other hand, Jai Prakash told reporters that the Congress was strong and Adampur had been a party stronghold.
On Kuldeep saying that the Bhajan Lal family was fighting this poll while being in government after a gap of 26 years, Jai Prakash said, “People will send them to permanent exile.” PTI SUN VSD SZM
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Source: The Print
