CHANDIGARH: Around 60.95 per cent of voters exercised their franchise in the Tarn Taran Assembly by-election in Punjab on Tuesday amid tight security, with polling concluding peacefully. This marks a decline of nearly five percentage points from the turnout recorded in the 2022 general elections for the same seat.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Punjab, Sibin C, informed that approximately 60.95 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 6 pm in the Tarn Taran Assembly constituency. He added that the final figures would be updated by Wednesday, once all polling parties return to the collection centres and data entry is completed. The CEO thanked the voters of Tarn Taran for participating in the by-election.
Polling began at 7 am and started slowly but picked up pace as the day progressed, with more voters visiting booths to cast their votes.
While Karanbir Singh Burj is contesting as the Congress candidate, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded Harmeet Singh Sandhu. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) nominee is Sukwinder Kaur Randhawa, while the BJP has fielded Harjit Singh Sandhu, president of the party’s district unit. Independent candidate Mandeep Singh, backed by the Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) led by jailed Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh and several radical Sikh organisations including the Sikh Youth Federation (Bhindranwale), is also in the fray.
Mandeep Singh is the brother of Sandeep Singh alias Sunny, an accused in the 2022 murder of Shiv Sena (Taksali) leader Sudhir Suri. Sandeep is also accused in an attack on three former police officers, two of whom were convicted in a fake encounter case in Tarn Taran, inside Patiala Jail. One of the convicted officers, Suba Singh, succumbed to his injuries on 17 September.
The Tarn Taran seat fell vacant following the death of AAP MLA Kashmir Singh Sohal in June. The by-election is being seen as a litmus test for Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the AAP leadership, with the 2027 Assembly elections on the horizon.
The poll is equally crucial for SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, who, along with his wife and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, campaigned extensively for party candidate Randhawa, a retired government school principal and wife of a ‘Dharmi Fauji’ (a Sikh soldier who deserted the army following Operation Bluestar in 1984).
The constituency has 1,92,838 eligible voters, including 1,00,933 men, 91,897 women, and eight third-gender voters. A total of 222 polling stations were set up across 114 locations, 60 urban and 162 rural, including four ‘model’ and three ‘pink’ booths.
According to sources, 12 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) were deployed in the constituency, marking one of the largest security deployments ever by the Election Commission for a by-election.