Gidderbaha sees highest 81% vote in Punjab bypolls

Nearly 63 per cent voters turned up to cast their ballot in the byelections to the four Assembly constituencies of Gidderbaha, Barnala, Chabbewal and Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab today.

Chief Electoral Officer Sibin C said the highest voter turnout was recorded in Gidderbaha, with 81 per cent voters coming out to exercise their franchise. The lowest voting percentage of 53 was recorded in Chabbewal.

No untoward incident was reported during the poll, where the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress appear to be in a direct fight, with the BJP staking a claim as the third important political force in the state...in the absence of the Shiromani Akali Dal, which did not contest the bypolls. At stake in these bypolls is the political future of two Congress stalwarts — PPCC chief Amrinder Raja Warring and Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Randhawa — whose spouses are in the fray from Gidderbaha and Dera Baba Nanak, besides that of BJP candidate Manpreet Badal, who is contesting from Gidderbaha and is in the reckoning for BJP state chief’s post, and others. The results on November 23 will determine power equation within the ruling AAP too.