Forty-six per cent of the more than 51 lakh eligible voters for civic body polls in Haryana exercised their franchise on Sunday, officials said.
The polling was peaceful, they added.
Voting was held to elect the mayors and ward members of seven municipal corporations—Gurugram, Manesar, Faridabad, Hisar, Rohtak, Karnal and Yamunanagar.
Bypolls for the mayors’ posts in Ambala and Sonipat were also held.
The voting was held from 8 am to 6 pm.
The turnout in the civic polls was recorded at 46 per cent, the officials said, adding that the overall percentage may slightly increase once the entire data is collected.
Elections were also held for the posts of presidents and ward members in four municipal councils—Ambala Sadar, Pataudi Jatoli Mandi, Thanesar and Sirsa.
A bypoll was also held for the president’s post in the Sohna Municipal Council.
Voting also took place for the election of the presidents and ward members in 21 municipal committees. Bypolls for the presidents’ posts in the municipal committees of Assandh (Karnal district) and Ismailabad (Kurukshetra district) were also conducted.
While some places saw a healthy voter turnout, the poll percentage remained comparatively low at places like Gurugram and Sonepat.
Gurugram recorded a turnout of more than 40 per cent, with Farukh Nagar in the district registering a healthy poll percentage of nearly 77. Manesar recorded a 65-per cent voter turnout and Sohna 35.3 per cent.
Sonipat recorded a poor turnout of about 29 per cent, though Kharkhoda in the district registered more than 62 per cent polling.
Rohtak recorded a poll percentage of more than 53.
In Ambala district, the turnout was nearly 32 per cent in Ambala, 52.3 per cent in Ambala Sadar and 67.3 per cent in Barara.
In Faridabad, the turnout was around 40 per cent.
However, in Fatehabad’s Jakhal Mandi, the turnout was a healthy 85.2 per cent. In Jind district’s Julana and Safidon, the turnout was recorded at 70.9 per cent and 81.5 per cent respectively.
Narnaund in Hisar district recorded a healthy voter turnout of 82.7 per cent, while Hisar registered a poll percentage of 52.4.
At Taoru in Nuh district, 78 per cent of voters exercised their franchise.
In Karnal district, the turnout was 33.2 per cent in Assandh, 46.2 per cent in Karnal, 72.7 per cent in Indri, 67.4 per cent in Nilokheri and 76.4 per cent in Taraori.
The start of polling was delayed by an hour at a booth in the Gurugram Municipal Corporation’s ward number 5 due to a snag in the electronic voting machine (EVM), sources said.
Haryana State Election Commissioner Dhanpat Singh had earlier said extensive arrangements, including those related to security, were made for free, fair and transparent elections.
He said 39 candidates were contesting the elections for the mayors’ posts in the nine municipal corporations and 27 were in the fray for the presidents’ posts in the five municipal councils.
A total of 151 candidates contested the polls for the presidents’ posts in the 23 municipal committees.
Only one candidate each was in the fray in ward number 36 of the Faridabad Municipal Corporation, ward number 22 of the Gurugram Municipal Corporation, ward numbers eight and 11 of the Karnal Municipal Corporation and ward number nine of the Yamunanagar Municipal Corporation, leading to their unopposed elections.
The candidates for ward number 24 of the Ambala Sadar Municipal Council and ward numbers seven and 32 of the Thanesar Municipal Council were also elected unopposed.
Besides, 17 ward members in various municipal committees were also elected unopposed.
Polling for the Panipat Municipal Corporation will be held on March 9. The votes will be counted on March 12 and the results declared the same day. —with PTI
(With inputs from Parveen Arora, Kulwinder Sandhu, Ravinder Saini, Mukesh Tandon, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Bijendra Ahlawat, Sumedha Sharma)
March 2, 2025 3:39 pm
Chandigarh: At 19.4 per cent, Sonepat district was trailing in voter turnout at 3:30 pm, according to data released by the state election officials. Elections are under way for Khardhoda and Sonepat MCs in the district. TNS
March 2, 2025 3:28 pm
Gurugram: As per the latest report released by the State Election Commission, 31.2 per cent of the electorate have cast their vote for the municipal elections to five civic bodies in Gurugram district till 3 pm. There are a total of 1,109 polling booths in the district. Out of 11,07,678 voters, as many as 3,45,275 have cast their vote. TNS
March 2, 2025 2:35 pm
Chandigarh: Fatehabad, Mahendragarh, Palwal and Kaithal districts are leading in voter turnout for the municipal elections. By 2:30 pm, Fatehabad witnessed a massive 67.1 per cent turnout, followed by Mahendragarh at 61.1 per cent, Palwal at 57.5 per cent and Kaithal at 56.5 per cent. TNS
March 2, 2025 11:21 am
Ambala: After casting his vote in Ambala, Haryana Minister Anil Vij said, "This is the biggest festival of democracy. We should all participate in this. Step out and spend a little time celebrating this festival.” ANI
March 2, 2025 11:21 am
Jhajjar: An EVM was replaced in sensitive booth number-8 at government school in Beri town here for Beri Municipal Committee polls after someone applied ink on it while casting his/her vote, Later DC Pradeep Dahiya also inspects the booth and takes stock of the situation, a considerable number of personnel has been deployed there due to the booth being sensitive. TNS
March 2, 2025 11:13 am
Sonepat: Polling for the Mayor of Sonepat Municipal Corporation (MC) and for the Chairman and 15 councillors for Kharkhoda Municipal Committee (KMC) began on a slow pace on Sunday. In the first two hours, 3.6 per cent voter turnout was recorded for the Sonepat mayoral elections while 10.5 per cent voter turnout was witnessed for the Kharkhoda MC elections. Five contestants – Rajiv Jain from the BJP, Kamal Diwan from the Congress, Dharamvir from the BSP, Kamlesh Saini from AAP and Independent candidate Ramesh Kumar Khatri are in the fray for the mayoral post. The Sonepat Mayor’s seat got vacant after the first Mayor, Nikhil Madaan, was elected MLA from the Sonepat Assembly seat on the BJP ticket. BJP mayoral candidate Rajiv Jain (in pic) along with his wife Kavita Jain and Congress’ former MLA Surender Panwar voted at Booth Number 61 in Sector-15 today.
March 2, 2025 10:46 am
Yamunanagar: After offering prayers at the Khera Baba temple, BJP's mayoral candidate Suman Behmani cast her vote at Booth No. 340 in Government High School, Gobindpra village. A total of 348 polling booths have been set up in Yamunanagar district. TNS
March 2, 2025 10:38 am
Gurugram: A drunk man came to cast his vote at a polling booth in the Saray Alarwadi area of Gurugram. The polling staff allowed him to cast his vote but he started creating a ruckus thereafter, insisting on casting his vote again. The drama persisted for 10-15 minutes. The polling staff had to call the police to usher him out of the booth. TNS
March 2, 2025 10:25 am
March 2, 2025 10:21 am
Gurugram: A snag was encountered in an EVM machine at a polling booth in Ward 5 of the Gurugram Municipal Corporation, which delayed the voting process by one hour. A new machine was brought in after which the voting process began smoothly. TNS
March 2, 2025 10:21 am
Karnal: Before casting her vote, BJP mayoral candidate Renu Bala Gupta offered prayers at various temples and ‘khera’. She also paid obeisance at Nirmal Kutia. She was accompanied by her husband and BJP officiating district president Brij Gupta. TNS
March 2, 2025 9:59 am
Ambala: Polling is under way for the mayoral byelection of the Ambala Municipal Corporation; chairpersons and councillors of Municipal Council, Ambala Sadar, and Municipal Committee, Barara, in Ambala. As many as 367 polling booths have been established for the civic body elections in Ambala. Of those, 97 booths have been declared vulnerable. TNS
March 2, 2025 9:45 am
Karnal: Union Minister and former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar cast his vote at a booth in Prem Nagar and urged people to actively participate in the democratic process. He also took to social media platform X to appeal to voters, sharing a message: “My vote is for a prosperous Karnal. Today, I exercised my voting right in Karnal for the local body elections. I appeal to all of you to actively participate in this festival of democracy and cast your vote.” As many as 3,01,915 registered voters — including 1,56,019 males, 1,45,890 females, and six transgenders — will cast their votes at 256 polling booths to elect the Mayor and 18 councillors in Karnal. Two councillors have already been elected unopposed. TNS
