Ludhiana (West) assembly bypoll sees 51.33% voter turnout in four-cornered contest
CHANDIGARH: The voter turnout in the Ludhiana (West) assembly bypoll as per data uploaded till 7 pm was approximately 51.33%, said Punjab chief electoral officer Sibin C. As part of a new initiative, the polling data has been uploaded by the presiding officer at the polling station on the ECINET app.
The voting started at all polling booths at 7 am on Thursday morning. Till 9 am, the polling percentage was just 8.50% as a few people gathered at the booths early in the morning to avoid the hot weather later in the day. Till 11 am, it was 21.51% and then went up to 33.42% till 1 pm, 41.04% till 3 pm and 49.07% till 5 pm.
At many polling booths, candidates and their supporters arranged lunch or snacks, due to which many voters reportedly went around lunch time to cast their vote. A majority of the electorate belongs to the middle class and they did not seem to be in a hurry to reach the polling stations. The Election Commission of India (ECI) provided vehicle assistance to senior citizens and persons with disabilities. The initiative received widespread appreciation.
The Congress has fielded 51-year-old Bharat Bhusan Ashu who served as MLA twice from this seat in 2012 and 2017. He was defeated by Gurpreet Bassi alias Gogi by a margin of 7,512 votes in the 2022 Punjab assembly polls. Ashu was food and civil supplies minister in the previous Congress government.
Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora is the nominee of the ruling AAP. He is a Ludhiana-based industrialist also known for his social work. The 61-year-old runs the Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Charitable Trust. Arora has been a member of the Rajya Sabha since 2022.
The SAD named Parupkar Singh Ghuman as its candidate for the bypoll. He is a lawyer and the former president of the Ludhiana bar. The BJP fielded Jivan Gupta who is a member of the core committee of the Punjab unit of the party. He was earlier the party's state general secretary.
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