The bypoll for the Hisar Lok Sabha seat, where the stakes for the ruling Congress are high because of the Anna Hazare factor, on Thursday witnessed a voter turnout of around 69%.
The polling, which became necessary because of the death of sitting MP Bhajan Lal of the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), was peaceful.
Jai Prakash (Congress), Bhajan Lal’s son Kuldeep Bishnoi (HJC, supported by the BJP) and Ajay Chautala (Indian National Lok Dal) are in the fray.
Anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare has asked the electorate not to vote for the Congress because of the party’s alleged ambivalence on passing legislation on the lokpal.
“At 4pm, the poll percentage was nearly 62%,” Haryana chief electoral officer Sumita Misra said. Hisar has an electorate of 1.33 million.
Congress legislator Savitri Jindal said, “There was no impact of Hazare’s call to oppose our candidate.
(With inputs from PTI)