46% turnout in Haryana civic polls

Voting is being held to elect mayors and ward members in seven municipal corporations -- Gurugram, Manesar, Faridabad, Hisar, Rohtak, Karnal, and Yamunanagar.

Chandigarh: Forty-six per cent of the more than 51 lakh eligible voters for civic body polls in Haryana exercised their franchise on Sunday, officials said.

The polling was peaceful, they added.

Voting was held to elect the mayors and ward members of seven municipal corporations -- Gurugram, Manesar, Faridabad, Hisar, Rohtak, Karnal and Yamunanagar.

Bypolls for the mayors' posts in Ambala and Sonipat were also held.

The voting was held from 8 am to 6 pm.

The turnout in the civic polls was recorded at 46 per cent, the officials said, adding that the overall percentage may slightly increase once the entire data is collected.

Elections were also held for the posts of presidents and ward members in four municipal councils -- Ambala Sadar, Pataudi Jatoli Mandi, Thanesar and Sirsa.

A bypoll was also held for the president's post in the Sohna Municipal Council.

Voting also took place for the election of the presidents and ward members in 21 municipal committees. Bypolls for the presidents' posts in the municipal committees of Assandh (Karnal district) and Ismailabad (Kurukshetra district) were also conducted.

Ahead of the polls, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini had exuded confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would win the contests and said work would be done three times faster after the formation of a "triple-engine" government, a reference to the saffron party being in power at the Centre, in the state as well as in the civic bodies.

The Congress had appealed to the voters to elect the party candidates with a full majority. The grand old party, out of office in Haryana for more than 10 years, is looking to turn around its electoral fortunes in the civic polls.

Union minister and former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar was among the early voters, casting his vote at a booth in Karnal.

"Voting is our democratic right and it is also our duty to exercise our franchise," he told reporters, exuding confidence that the BJP would win the polls.

Another Union minister, Krishan Pal Gurjar, cast his vote at a booth in Faridabad.

Haryana minister Anil Vij, who cast his vote in Ambala Cantonment, said, "All the voters should participate in the greatest festival of democracy. A triple-engine government will be formed in Haryana. People are aware that the BJP governs both at the Centre and in Haryana, and if the party also governs the urban local bodies, development will accelerate."

Sunderlal Yadav, the BJP's mayoral candidate for Manesar, where municipal elections were held for the first time, cast his vote at a booth in the Manesar area.

While some places saw a healthy voter turnout, the poll percentage remained comparatively low at places like Gurugram and Sonipat.

Gurugram recorded a turnout of more than 40 per cent, with Farukh Nagar in the district registering a healthy poll percentage of nearly 77. Manesar recorded a 65-per cent voter turnout and Sohna 35.3 per cent.

Sonipat recorded a poor turnout of about 29 per cent, though Kharkhoda in the district registered more than 62 per cent polling.

Rohtak recorded a poll percentage of more than 53.

In Ambala district, the turnout was nearly 32 per cent in Ambala, 52.3 per cent in Ambala Sadar and 67.3 per cent in Barara.

In Faridabad, the turnout was around 40 per cent.

However, in Fatehabad's Jakhal Mandi, the turnout was a healthy 85.2 per cent. In Jind district's Julana and Safidon, the turnout was recorded at 70.9 per cent and 81.5 per cent respectively.

Narnaund in Hisar district recorded a healthy voter turnout of 82.7 per cent, while Hisar registered a poll percentage of 52.4.

At Taoru in Nuh district, 78 per cent of voters exercised their franchise.

In Karnal district, the turnout was 33.2 per cent in Assandh, 46.2 per cent in Karnal, 72.7 per cent in Indri, 67.4 per cent in Nilokheri and 76.4 per cent in Taraori.

The start of polling was delayed by an hour at a booth in the Gurugram Municipal Corporation's ward number 5 due to a snag in the electronic voting machine (EVM), sources said.

Haryana State Election Commissioner Dhanpat Singh had earlier said extensive arrangements, including those related to security, were made for free, fair and transparent elections.

He said 39 candidates were contesting the elections for the mayors' posts in the nine municipal corporations and 27 were in the fray for the presidents' posts in the five municipal councils.

A total of 151 candidates contested the polls for the presidents' posts in the 23 municipal committees.

Only one candidate each was in the fray in ward number 36 of the Faridabad Municipal Corporation, ward number 22 of the Gurugram Municipal Corporation, ward numbers eight and 11 of the Karnal Municipal Corporation and ward number nine of the Yamunanagar Municipal Corporation, leading to their unopposed elections.

The candidates for ward number 24 of the Ambala Sadar Municipal Council and ward numbers seven and 32 of the Thanesar Municipal Council were also elected unopposed.

Besides, 17 ward members in various municipal committees were also elected unopposed.

Polling for the Panipat Municipal Corporation will be held on March 9.

The votes will be counted on March 12 and the results declared the same day.