CHANDIGARH: A little more than seventy-six per cent polling was recorded in the by-poll of Shahkot
Assembly constituency of Punjab. Meanwhile, a case registered against former state home minister Brij Bhupinder Singh Lalli who had joined the Shiromani Akali Dal a few days back.
There was no report of any violence from anywhere in the constituency. But former state home minister Brij Bhupinder Singh Lalli was arrested by the Punjab Police on the charges of unauthorised entry and unauthorised carrying of weapon inside polling booth at Sallah Nagar during polling. A case was registered against him under Representation of People's Act and IPC.
Confirming that a case has been registered, Senior Superintendent of Police (Jalandhar Rural) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said Lalli has been booked under Section 188 of the IPC and Sections 132, 134-B of the Representation of People’s Act on the complaint of presiding officers Ram Gopal and Harish Kumar Beri of booth numbers 90 and 91 of Shahkot.
Lalli had joined the Shiromani Akali Dal after leaving the Congress ten days ago. Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab Dr SS Karuna Raju said that vote percentage is 73 percent till 7 pm, whereas the polling percentage is 78.60 per cent at the previous assembly elections. He said that today 13 VVPAT machines, open Control Unit and two Ballot Units were immediately changed due to technical glitch.
The Congress is hoping to maintain its winning momentum while the Akali Dal is trying to retain the seat. The main opposition Aam Aadmi Party, which faced a humiliating defeat during the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll and civic polls, is desperately looking for the victory.
This by-poll was necessitated following the demise of Akali MLA Ajit Singh Kohar in February this year. Shahkot is known to be a pocket borough of the Akali Dal as Kohar was a five-time MLA from the constituency.
While the ruling Congress has fielded Hardev Singh Laddi, SAD has given ticket to Kohar’s son, Naib Singh Kohar and AAP have given ticket to Rattan Singh Kakkar Kalan an NRI from Dubai.
Of the 236 polling booths in the constituency, webcasting was held at 103. The Election Commission has deployed a total of 1,022 security personnel, including six companies of the Border Security Force (BSF) besides 1,416 polling staff was deployed for this by-poll.
Result of this by-election will be announced on May 31.