Hoshiarpur witnesses the highest 69.78% turnout
While Hoshiarpur recorded the highest final voting percentage of 69.78 per cent for the panchayat elections across Doaba, it was followed by Nawanshahr at 69.55 per cent, Kapurthala at 66.14 per cent and Jalandhar at 66.3 per cent.
Amid skirmishes and isolated incidents of violence in Doaba, voting in other villages remained largely peaceful.
At Hoshiarpur, the police had to fire several rounds into the air in Khanpur village where people were protesting against the election result, threw stones on the vehicles of the SDM and the police in a bid to prevent the polling party from leaving, following which an ex-sarpanch and his relatives were also booked.
At Kapurthala, four persons were injured as two factions clashed near a booth at Swal village over the alleged bogus voting. Members of two groups allegedly attacked each other with a sword and datar (a small sharp-edged machete) when one of the groups alleged that bogus votes were being cast by other group members.
Skirmishes were also reported at the Ramnagar village at Kala Sanghian in Kapurthala when a woman candidate’s husband alleged that stones were thrown by the opposite group outside the centre, causing damage to a police vehicle.
Meanwhile, at the Gillan village in Kapurthala too, villagers of one of the factions boycotted the poll and staged a protest alleging that bogus votes were polled at ward 4 in the village and demanded a repoll.
At Jalandhar, of the total 695 panchayats, 195 panchayats were elected unanimously. The polls were held to elect 1,662 sarpanchs and 5,464 panchs (Jalandhar). At Kapurthala, 376 villages (of total 546) went to the polls while sarpanchs at 190 villages were chosen unanimously. The total candidates in the fray at Kapurthala for the posts of sarpanch was 863 and for panch 2,705.
