Chandigarh, June 1 Punjab, where voting is underway for 13 Lok Sabha seats, registered 9.64 per cent polling in the first two hours on Saturday.
Around 70,000 security personnel, including central forces, have been deployed to ensure peaceful voting at 24,451 polling stations in the state.
Simultaneously, the polling started for the lone parliamentary seat in Chandigarh, which is the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana. The voter turnout was 11.64 per cent till 9 a.m.
State Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his wife, Gurpreet Kaur, were among the early to cast their votes. They exercised their franchise at a polling booth in their hometown Sangrur and appealed to people to vote in large numbers.
After casting the vote, CM Mann told the media, “People of Punjab are aware and they vote in large numbers. We should use our right to vote. I appeal to Punjabis to come out of their homes and vote and choose good representatives who can work for you.”
He said there was some issue with VVPAT (at the polling booth) and the officials replaced it.
His wife Gurpreet Kaur said, “I urge the women to come out and vote in large numbers. Our participation is essential in choosing a government that will work for our benefit.”
The Sangrur seat was witnessing a tough contest among the AAP's Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Congress' Sukhpal Singh Khaira, BJP's Arvind Khanna, Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) Iqbal Singh Jhundan and Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar)'s Simranjit Singh Mann, the outgoing MP.
In Amritsar, former diplomat and BJP candidate, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, cast his vote at a local polling booth. He’s competing against Congress MP and candidate Gurjeet Singh Aujla, AAP's Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal and SAD's Anil Joshi.
A total of 2,14,61,741 voters including 1,12,86,727 men, 1,01,74,241 women, 773 transgenders, 1,58,718 Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) and 1,614 Non-Resident Indian voters, are entitled to cast their votes till 6 p.m. with vote counting scheduled on June 4.
There are 5,38,715 first-time voters in Punjab, while 189,855 voters are aged 85 and above.
Chief Electoral Officer Sibin C said 5,694 polling stations have been declared critical.
The counting of votes would take place at 117 centres at 24 locations.
Punjab is all set for a four-cornered fight among AAP, the Congress, the Akali Dal and the BJP.
Among the prominent faces, BJP nominee and four-time MP Preneet Kaur is seeking re-election from the Patiala seat.
Three-time MP and SAD's Harsimrat Kaur Badal is trying her luck from Bathinda.
Political observers told IANS that AAP aims to repeat its 2022 assembly polls success of sweeping 92 seats in the House of 117, while the main Opposition Congress and the Akali Dal look to regain ground. In the 2022 polls, the Akali Dal was reduced to three seats.
Punjab had recorded a voter turnout of 65.96 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
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