Over 50 per cent of the voters exercised their franchise till 4 pm today in the byelection to Moga assembly constituency in Punjab. Around 60% electorates had cast their votes in urban area while around 70 % voters had cast their votes in rural area amid heavy rain.


The polling was dull in the morning due to rainy weather, but as the day progressed, more and more people flocked the booths to cast vote, Election Commission officials said.

In the first four hours, only 40 per cent voting was recorded.

The election was necessitated due to two-time Moga MLA Joginderpal Jain resigning from Congress and joining the ruling party SAD in December last year.

The main contest is between Akali Dal candidate Joginderpal Jain and Congress candidate Vijay Kumar Sathi.

A total of 1,79, 338 voters are expected to exercise their franchise. While 69 booths are hyper sensitive, 90 are sensitive out of the total 188.

A large number of paramilitary forces and Punjab Police personnel have been deployed to ensure free and fair polling.

The security personnel had yesterday held flag marches in Moga town and in the rural areas to instill confidence among the electorates.

The voting would continue till 5 pm.

With inputs from PTI