A total of 907 EVMs will reveal the winners of people’s mandate in Mohali district’s three assembly constituencies on Thursday.
All preparations are in place to uncover the fate of 40 candidates, sealed by 5.3 lakh voters of the district on February 20.
Counting will begin at 8 am and the results are expected by 12.30 pm. Two counting centres have been set up for the three assemblies – Sports Complex, Sector 78, for Mohali urban, and Rattan Professional College, Sector 78, for Kharar and Dera Bassi.
Two sitting MLAs – Congress’ Balbir Singh Sidhu and Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) NK Sharma – are again in the fray from Mohali and Dera Bassi, respectively.
With the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) also joining the electoral battle in Mohali, all three seats witnessed a multi-cornered fight.
On polling day, 5.3 lakh of the 7.94 lakh registered voters in the district had showed up, a turnout of 66.72%. Dera Bassi recorded the highest polling at 69.25%, followed by Kharar with 66.17% and Mohali with 64.76%.
Deputy commissioner Isha Kalia said, “Polling staff are all set for counting. There will be 20 rounds of counting for Mohali, and 23 each for Kharar and Dera Bassi. Results should be clear by 12.30pm.”
{{/usCountry}}Deputy commissioner Isha Kalia said, “Polling staff are all set for counting. There will be 20 rounds of counting for Mohali, and 23 each for Kharar and Dera Bassi. Results should be clear by 12.30pm.”
{{/usCountry}}On the eve of declaration of results, candidates remained on the edge about D-Day.
Three-time Congress MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu, who is hoping for the fourth term from Mohali, interacted with people at his house in Phase 7, while real estate baron Kulwant Singh, who is contesting from AAP in Mohali and is the richest candidate in Punjab, met party workers at the AAP office. Apart from former mayor Kulwant Singh, candidates hoping to unseat Sidhu are BJP’s Sanjeev Vashisht, SAD-BSP’s Parvinder Singh Sohana and SSM’s Ravneet Brar.
Two two-time SAD MLA NK Sharma, who is also aiming for a hat-trick from Dera Bassi, met the families of students, who recently returned from Ukraine.
He is facing stiff competition from BJP’s Sanjeev Khanna, Congress’ Deepinder Singh Dhillon, AAP’s Kuljeet Singh Randhawa, BJP’s Sanjeev Khanna, and SSM’s Avtar Singh Jawaharpur.
In Kharar, the contest is between SAD’s Ranjit Singh Gill from, Congress’ Vijay Kumar Sharma, AAP’s Anmol Gagan Mann, BJP’s Kamaldeep Singh Saini and SSM’s Paramdeep Singh Baidwan. Multiple independent candidates also gave a tough fight to the major parties.