First six hours in Haryana sees over 35 percent voter turnout

Chandigarh: Barring stray incidents, polling in Haryana was by and large going on smoothly as about 35 percent of the 1.63 crore eligible voters exercised their franchise till 1 pm today. Two persons were injured in firing during a clash between supporters of two groups in Sirsa, Sirsa Superintendent of Police, Mitesh Jain, said. A supporter from each side was injured in the incident and the seriously injured person has been hospitalised, police said, adding investigations are on in the matter. [caption id=“attachment_1710271” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] Amid tight security, polling commenced in all the 90 assembly seats at 7 am and would continue till 6 pm to decide the fate of 1,351 candidates. Counting of votes will take place on 19 October. Election officials said that the polling was slow during the first two hours, but gradually picked up pace and was brisk at places including Fatehabad, Hisar, Gurgaon, Jind, Mewat, Palwal and Yamunanagar while it was moderate at other places including Panchkula, Karnal and Rewari districts. In another incident, the window panes of a car belonging to a supporter of Haryana Lokhit Party’s Gopal Kanda were broken following a minor clash between the supporters of HLP and INLD workers in Sirsa, police said. Kanda, a former Haryana Minister, is seeking re-election from Sirsa. There were glitches in EVM machines at a couple of places in the state. In Narnaund, BJP candidate from the assembly segment and Chief Ministerial aspirant, Capt Abhimanyu alleged that attempts to capture booth were made in Baans village in the constituency at the behest of rival INLD, which vehemently denied the charge. Wires of web-casting camera were cut in Booth No 140 and an attempt was made to capture booth by the ‘goondas’, Abhimanyu told reporters in Narnaund. This is a hyper sensitive booth, he said, “but the police administration is sitting like a mute spectator”. A spokesman of the INLD said that Abhimanyu was levelling false allegations “out of sheer frustration sensing his imminent defeat”. Over 1.63 crore voters including over 87 lakh women are eligible to cast their vote in the polls, in which stakes are high for the three main contenders including ruling Congress, BJP and INLD. Ahead of the polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led an aggressive poll campaign for the BJP, which is for the first time seeking to come to power in Haryana on its own. The kin of the three famous ‘Lals’ (Bansi Lal, Bhajan Lal and Devi Lal) are also battling it out in the state. The highest number of 116 women contestants are in fray this time. PTI