Poll Diary: 97-year-old casts vote

Patiala: With spring in his feet, 97-year-old Ram Kishan Singh of Dhainthal village in Samana was one of the first ones to reach the polling booth. “Sarpanch is the most respected word I heard in my life ever since I started casting my vote more than 79 years back. He is the most important person in the village”. — Aman Sood

First test for minister

Ludhiana: With the Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond hailing from Ludhiana, the stakes in the panchayat poll went high in the state’s biggest and largest district in terms of area and population. After being inducted into the Punjab Cabinet less than a month ago, Sond was facing his first test in the electoral battle and that also the Panchayati Raj of which he was the minister incharge. Even as Opposition parties cried foul and alleged misuse of official machinery, the minister denied the charges while attributing those to frustration of the “losers”. — Nitin Jain

Trophy on table

jalandhar: At Jamsher Khas village, Mandeep Singh Manna, a candidate for the post of the sarpanch, kept a gold trophy on the table in front of his seat to impress voters. Trophy was his election symbol. His major opponent, Gurinder Pal Singh Shergill, looked at him amusedly and said, “My symbol is a tractor. I cannot keep it on the table.” — Aparna Banerji

Election symbol ‘changed’

Muktsar: Resham Singh, a candidate from ward 7 at Kaniawali village in Muktsar, was taken by surprise this morning when he found a generator as his symbol on the ballot paper. “I was allotted diesel pump as election symbol. The administration changed my election symbol to generator at the last minute. I appeal to EC to cancel the poll,” he claimed. — Archit Watts

Names deleted, 2 rush to EC office

Chandigarh: The voting for the panchayat poll ended at 4 pm. But at 4.05 pm, two petitioners were still seated outside the office of State Election Commissioner, Raj Kamal Chaudhari, seeking redress of their complaints for deletion of their names from voter lists. Asked why they decided to approach the Commission now, they quipped that they realised only this morning that their names had been deleted from the voter list when they went to cast their votes. Thereafter, they rushed to Chandigarh. — TNS