Fate sealed: 65.2% vote in Jalandhar district

Tribune News Service

Deepkamal Kaur

Jalandhar, February 20

Jalandhar clocked 65.2% turnout during Assembly elections held on Sunday with 10.86 lakh people casting their votes in the nine segments falling in the district.

The polling went down by nearly 8% this time as it was 73.16% in 2017. None of the Assembly segments of Jalandhar district crossed 70%mark. The highest poll percentage recorded in Jalandhar was in Nakodar where the turnout remained 68.6 per cent. Polling remained down at 60.2 per cent in Jalandhar Central constituency.

Since the EC officials have said that the poll data was still being updated, they are saying that they would give the final figures tomorrow morning. Going by the number of voters, Phillaur, which recorded 66.3% polling, had the highest turnout in terms of voter numbers as 1.37 lakh people cast their vote here. Phillaur had the highest number of total registered voters at 2.07 lakh among all nine constituencies.

Political pundits have been citing various reasons for the fall in vote percentage. “The polling was low in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Ludhiana but other areas of Malwa did not reportedly see this trend. It may have something to do with the response for the AAP. Possibly, the AAP was weaker from here and votes went more in favour of traditional parties,” said a political observer.

Yet another observation was that there has been a lot of migration from these cities towards foreign lands and the first time voters had fallen down to nearly half this time as compared to 2017, which perhaps could be a cause. “In Kapurthala alone, there were nearly 12,000 voters of age group 18-19 years in 2017, which now stand at 6,600. So this factor needs to be considered too. The usual enthusiasm and charm among youngsters was missing surely,” said an official engaged in poll duty.

Meanwhile, the fate of 94 candidates in fray from the nine Assembly seats of Jalandhar which have now been sealed would be known on March 10 when the results would be declared. Of the 94 candidates, Phillaur had the highest number of 14 candidates in fray. There were 12 candidates in Jalandhar West, 11 each in Nakodar and Shahkot, 10 each in Jalandhar North, Jalandhar Cantonment and Adampur and eight in Kartarpur and Jalandhar Central.

Autos hired to ferry voters

The candidates had on Sunday hired auto-rickshaws at various places to ferry the voters to their polling booths. The voters of Makhdoompura locality, Sanjay Gandhi area and other colonies, where labourers are concentrated, were ferried at the cost paid by the candidates. Candidates of almost all traditional parties had indulged in this illegal means to pull voters out of their houses and make them cast votes.

AAP manages its booth well

Even as Aam Aadmi Party was known to have not managed its party booths outside the polling stations till 2019 LS polls, things remained different this time. Aam Aadmi Party leaders ensured that they had booths outside most polling stations in Doaba and were even manning them well. There, however, were reports of fewer party booths being put up in Kapurthala district.

Voting %age dips in Nawanshahr

The much-anticipated Assembly elections, which had more than five political parties in the fray, has failed to make a big impact in the Nawanshahr district, as there was a drop in the overall poll percentage. In 2017, the district recorded 77.40% turnout, while this time the poll percentage declined to 70.1. Repeating the 2017 trend, this time again Balachaur registered the highest turnout (73.8%) followed by Banga (69.4%) and Nawanshahr (67.6%). Deputy Commissioner Vishesh Sarangal said the EVMs and VVPAT machines were collected from the polling parties in a free and fair manner. TNS

67.07% turnout in Kapurthala

Polling for Assembly elections in Kapurthala district remained peaceful witnessing a turnout of 67.07%. Notably, Kapurthala witnessed a lower turn out on Sunday as compared to the 2017 elections. In 2017, the district witnessed a turnout of 74.2%. Of the four constituencies in the district, Sultanpur Lodhi saw the highest voter turnout (71.98%). The Phagwara Assembly constituency recorded 66% voting, Bholath 66% while Kapurthala witnessed 67.9% polling. TNS

67.1% polling in Hoshiarpur

The district recorded around 67.1% voting in its seven constituencies. Chabbewal remained on the top with 71. 8% voter turnout while Sham Churasi recorded 65% polling, least in the district. Dasuya recorded 66.9% voter turnout followed by Urmar at 66.7%, Mukerian 66%, Garhshankar 69.4% and Hoshiarpur 63.3%. The polling remained largely peaceful as no major untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the district. Polling got disrupted for around half an hour after a VVPAT machine failed at the booth No. 195 at Government Elementary Smart School, Sandpur. OC

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