Punjab Municipal Election Results: Repolling ordered in two polling booths in SAS Nagar

The Punjab election commission on Tuesday ordered repolling at two booths of the SAS Nagar municipal corporation on 17 February after receiving reports of irregularities during voting on 14 February, when elections were held for over hundred civic bodies in the state. The order comes on a day repolling was conducted in three booths of the Patran and the Samana municipal councils in Patiala following reports of electronic voting machines being damaged by some miscreants. Elections were held on 14 February for 2,302 wards of eight municipal corporations and 109 municipal councils and nagar panchayats, and counting of votes is on Wednesday. There were 9,222 candidates in the fray and 71.39 percent turnout was recorded in the polls for the civic bodies. “The Punjab State Election Commission (PSEC) received reports of irregularities during polling from the sub-divisional magistrate-cum-returning officer through the deputy commissioner-cum-district election officer of SAS Nagar,” an official spokesperson said. They sought repolling at booth number 32 and 33 of ward number 10 of Sahibzada Ajit Singh of the SAS Nagar Municipal Corporation, the PSEC spokesperson said. The commission announced to nullify the earlier polling conducted in these booths and ordered repolling on 17 February from 8 am to 4 pm. The counting for the entire municipal corporation of SAS Nagar will take place on 18 February, the spokesperson said. Repolling was held at three booths of the municipal councils of Patran and Samana in Patiala on Tuesday. Patiala deputy commissioner-cum-district election officer Kumar Amit said that 87.72 percent voting was registered at polling booth number 11 of ward number 8 in Patran. He said that 57.72 percent voter turnout was recorded at polling booth number 22 and 23 of ward number 11 in Samana. The PSEC on Tuesday also ordered deputy commissioners to appoint micro observers for vote counting of sensitive and hypersensitive wards. On the counting of votes, the Commission ordered to depute IAS, PCS or other senior officials as micro observers in sensitive and hypersensitive wards. Opposition parties has accused the ruling Congress in Punjab of capturing booths and indulging in violence.