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Held under the shadow of Covid that restricted rallies and door-to-door canvassing as well as a yearlong farmers’ agitation, the Punjab polls saw for the first time in the state’s history a multi-cornered fight as new political combinations sprang up ahead of the elections. The key players include Congress, main opposition party AAP, the SAD-BSP alliance, and the coalition of BJP, former CM Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) and Rajya Sabha member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa’s Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt). Farmers’ political outfit Sanyukat Samaj Morcha (SSM) has also thrown in its hat for the first time.
Sunday’s vote will decide the fate of 1,304 candidates, including 93 women and two transgender aspirants, contesting from 117 assembly constituencies in Punjab. Votes will be counted on March 10 together with four other states going to the polls.
In UP, the third round includes the ‘Yadav belt’ where 59 constituencies of 16 districts across three regions—parts of west UP, Awadh and Bundelkhand—voted on Sunday. Voting was peaceful, barring a few minor infractions.
Three out of four constituencies in Mainpuri district—the stronghold of Samajwadi Party— recorded a jump in polling percentage. Such as the Yadav bastion of Karhal recorded a turnout of 62.32% by 5pm, up 3.04% from the previous polls. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is contesting the assembly elections for the first time from Karhal, while BJP has fielded Union state minister SP Singh Baghel. In 2017, it recorded 59.28% turnout. The seat made history with the second highest turnout since 1951.
Mehroni seat of Lalitpur district, won by BJP candidate Manohar Lal in 2017, clocked the highest turnout of 71% with the district recording a maximum 69.05% voting, a 2.96% fall in polling percentage. It was followed by Etah at 65. 70%, Mahoba 64. 56%, Hathras 63. 14%, Kasganj 63. 04%, Kannauj 61.93%, Firozabad 61.89%, Mainpuri 61.51%, Hamirpur 60.56%, Auraiya 60.42%, Jalaun 59.93%, Kanpur Dehat 59.87%, Farrukhabad 59.13%, Etawah 58.33%, Jhansi 57.52 % and Kanpur Nagar 56.14%.
UP chief electoral officer Ajay Kumar Shukla said: “No official complaint on discrepancies was received. Polling closed at 6pm following a one-hour extension due to Covid protocols. The day passed off peacefully with minor snags in EVMs at some places. These machines were swiftly replaced.” In Etah, 10 people were arrested for allegedly casting fake votes in the Aliganj Marhara assembly constituency.
Punjab chief election officer S Karuna Raju said his office will share on Monday the updated voting percentage as polling was allowed till 6pm. Raju said not a single case of disruption of poll and inducement of voters came to the notice of the EC. However, he said that some minor poll-related incidents were witnessed for which total 18 FIRs were registered to avert any untoward incident.
Mansa district in Malwa region of the state continued its earlier trend of having the highest poll percentage among all the 23 districts of the state. It polled 77.21% votes. This district also topped the chart in the 2017 assembly polls by polling 86.73% votes. Similarly, as the Mohali district had recorded the lowest voting percentage of 71.48% in the 2017 assembly elections, this time too it recorded the worst voter turnout with 68.26% till 5 pm.
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