Sangrur LS bypolls: Nearly 13% polling in first 3 hours

The bypolls come at a time when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is facing Opposition heat over the law and order issue and the killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala

Nearly 13 per cent polling was recorded in the first three hours of the bypolls to Punjab's Sangrur Lok Sabha seat on Thursday.

The voting began at 8 am for the parliamentary seat, where the ruling AAP is facing its first test of popularity after its impressive performance in the Assembly elections earlier this year.

By 11 am, 12.75 per cent polling had been recorded, officials said. They said the polling will continue till 6 pm and the counting will be taken up on June 26.

There are 15,69,240 eligible voters--8,30,056 men, 7,39,140 women and 44 from transgender community--in the Sangrur parliamentary constituency. Sixteen candidates, including three women, are in the fray.

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Prominent amongst those who cast their votes were Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema and AAP candidate Gurmail Singh. Congress candidate Dalvir Singh Goldy and BJP candidate Kewal Singh Dhillon also cast their vote.

The bypolls come at a time when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is facing the Opposition heat over the law and order issue and the killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala.

Candidates fielded by the Congress, BJP and SAD are hoping to cause an election upset while AAP is looking to repeat its feat of the Assembly polls, in which it won from all nine assembly seats under the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann campaigned extensively and also took out a road show with AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Monday, urging voters to elect party candidate Gurmail Singh, the party's Sangrur district in-charge.

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Mann expressed confidence that "the revolutionary people of Sangrur will once again vote for a common man and the AAP's Gurmail Singh will win the bypoll with a thumping majority".

The Congress, BJP and SAD had hit out at the AAP government during the campaigning over the "deteriorating" law and order situation in the state and also raised the issue of the killing of Punjabi singer Moosewala.

Apart from law and order, the opposition parties have slammed the AAP government over "unfulfilled promises".

The main opposition Congress has fielded former Dhuri MLA Dalvir Singh Goldy while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made former Barnala MLA Kewal Dhillon its candidate, who joined the party on June 4.

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Kamaldeep Kaur, the sister of Balwant Singh Rajoana, a convict in former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh's assassination case, has been fielded by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann is also in the fray.

The Sangrur Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after Bhagwant Mann resigned as an MP after being elected to the state Assembly from the Dhuri seat earlier this year.

The CM had won the Sangrur seat in 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections.

Of the remaining 12 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, the Congress has eight, while two each are with the BJP and SAD.