Over 60 per cent of Haryana shows up to ink their finger

Women voters in Sirsa on Saturday. Pic/PTI

Over 60 per cent polling was recorded in the Haryana assembly elections on Saturday in which the ruling BJP is eyeing a third term and the Congress seeking a comeback after a decade. Officials said polling, which closed at 6 pm, went on smoothly barring a clash in Nuh between supporters of two candidates which left three persons injured. According to the data available at 5 pm, 61 per cent polling has been registered and it will further increase once all information comes in.

The BJP, Congress, the INLD-BSP and the JJP-Azad Samaj Party alliances and the Aam Aadmi Party are the key parties contesting the polls. A total of 1,031 candidates are in the fray, including 101 women and 464 Independent nominees. Counting will be taken up on October 8. Among the top names in the fray are Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, BJP's Anil Vij and OP Dhankar, Congress's Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Vinesh Phogat, INLD's Abhay Singh Chautala and JJP's Dushyant Chautala.

Among the districts, according to the Election Commission data available at 5 pm, Yamunanagar had recorded a poll percentage of 67.93, Sirsa 65.37, Rohtak 60.56, Nuh 68.28, Palwal 67.69, Mahendragarh 65.76, Kurukshetra 65.55 and Jind 66.02. However, by 5 pm, districts like Gurgaon recorded 49.92 poll per cent, Faridabad recorded 51.28 while Panchkula registered 54.71 percent. Haryana Jan Sevak Party nominee from Meham constituency Balraj Kundu accused former MLA Anand Singh Dangi of assaulting him and his assistant at a polling booth.

In Nuh district, there was a clash among supporters of the Congress' sitting MLA from Punhana and Independent candidate Rahish Khan in a village in the constituency which left three injured. "The Congress has a dual face, they talk of honesty but they indulge in loot," he alleged. Among the first voters to cast vote was Union Minister and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who his vote in Karnal. The voter turnout recorded in the 2019 Assembly polls was around 68 per cent.

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