E-Paper
At 52.8% Ludhiana sees lowest turnout in 25 yrs
Ludhiana Lok Sabha segment saw its lowest voter turnout in 25 years at 52.84%. The election process was peaceful with no major incidents of violence reported.
At just over 50%, the Ludhiana Lok Sabha segment recorded its lowest voter turnout in 25 years. As the voters braved the heat and reached polling stations to practice their right to vote, the segment recorded a turnout of 52.84% on Saturday. In the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, Ludhiana had recorded 45.8% polling. The election process remained peaceful and no major incidents of violence were reported.
As compared to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the voter turnout dipped over 9%. In 2019, Ludhiana recorded 62.16% turnout. A total of 17,58,614 electors are registered in Ludhiana parliamentary constituency, including 9,37,094 male, 8,21,386 female and 134 other genders. Of these, 18,22,334 persons cast their vote. While a total of 42 candidates were in the fray, a four-cornered contest among the major parties was on the cards.
The polling began at 7 am due to the heatwave in the region. Till 9 am, only 9.08% of votes were polled, which grew to 22.19% till 11 am.
The voter turnout started decreasing as the day temperature soared high. At 1 pm, voter turnout was 35.16%, by 3 pm, it was 43.82%.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Ashok Prashar Pappi visited the polling booth with his family at 7 am and exercised his right to vote. Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Ranjit Singh Dhillon and his family cast their votes around 9 am. Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu reached the polling booth at his village in Kotli village in Payal and Congress candidate Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, along with his wife, exercised his right in Muktsar district.
There are nine assembly constituencies in the Ludhiana segment. As per reports, 53.33% voter turnout was recorded in Atam Nagar, 54.1% in Dakha, 54.7% in Gill, 51.02% in Jagraon, 55.8% in Ludhiana Central, 49% in Ludhiana East, 58.2% in Ludhiana North, 47% in Ludhiana South and 52.3% in Ludhiana West.
Against the assembly election in 2022, 61.3% voter turnout was recorded in Atam Nagar, 74.4% in Dakha, 65.4% in Gill, 59.2% in Jagraon, 55.5% in Ludhiana Central, 63.8% in Ludhiana East, 60.8% in Ludhiana North, 59.4% in Ludhiana South and 53.6% in Ludhiana West.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 58.33% voter turnout was recorded in Atam Nagar, 67.54% in Dakha, 64.38% in Gill, 63.18% in Jagraon, 62.11% in Ludhiana Central, 63.59% in Ludhiana East, 60.21% in Ludhiana North, 55.86% in Ludhiana South and 62.38% in Ludhiana West.
District election officer Sakshi Sawhney on Saturday thanked voters, poll and security staff, candidates and political parties for cooperating in organising free, fair and peaceful Lok Sabha elections.
Sawhney, along with other senior officials, regularly kept a vigil on the situation, either by visiting the polling stations or from the integrated command control room during the polling hours.
The DEO held detailed deliberations with the polling staff, voters and representatives of political parties during the visits to the polling stations. She said that peaceful turnout by voters reflects the love that Punjabis have for duty towards the nation. She said that polling was completely peaceful and no incident of violence was reported during the voting.
