Lunchtime and evening surge expected in Ludhiana West polling

Till 11 am, 21.51 per cent of the eligible voters exercised their franchise to elect the legislator for the Ludhiana West constituency. The polling percentage was just 8.50 till 9 am.

A majority of the voters in the constituency belong to the middle class and they did not seem to be in a hurry to reach the polling stations.

Monika, a teacher who has to cast vote at GHN Khalsa College, said, "The voting will be on till 6 pm. I have to take my mother-in-law too. So, we will first complete our domestic chores and then leave after 12:30 pm with other family members to cast our votes.”

At many polling booths, candidates and supporters have arranged lunch and snacks, due to which many voters said they would go around lunch time to cast their vote. “We are going to stay there till evening to see the interesting contest, so there is no hurry to cast the vote,” said another voter Rahul.

Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Jain said voting was going on in an expected manner. “We will get a clear picture around 1 pm as after that, till 3 pm, voter turnout may become a little less and then after 3 pm, it will again pick up as per trends,” he said.

However, there are a few polling stations in the constituency where polling turnout has already crossed 40-50 per cent.