45 per cent polling in Patiala, 48 per cent in Talwandi Sabo till 1 PM

CHANDIGARH: Polling continued to be on a high note in both Patiala and Talwandi Sabo Assembly constituencies of Punjab as till 1 PM the poll percentage was around 45 and 48 per cent respectively in the two Assembly seats where bypolls are taking place today.

Polling has been brisk and incident free so far, an election office spokesman said here today adding that the till 1 PM, Patiala recorded 45 per cent polling while Talwandi Sabo 48 per cent.

The polling will end at 6 PM. Former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, his wife Preneet Kaur, who is contesting on Congress ticket had cast their vote at Patiala, while at Talwandi Sabo SAD nominee Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu, Congress candidate Harminder Jassi had exercised their franchise.

While a total of eight contestants are in fray for Patiala seat, Talwandi Sabo seat is being contested by seven candidates.

Patiala is witnessing a triangular contest between former union minister and wife of Congress leader Amarinder Singh Preneet Kaur, Bhagwan Das (SAD) and Harjeet Singh of Aam AadmiParty (AAP).

Preneet Kaur had lost the recent Lok Sabha polls to AAP's Dharamvira Gandhi.

Talwandi Sabo too is witnessing a triangular contest among Congress candidate Harminder Singh Jassi, SAD's Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu and AAP's Bajinder Kaur.

At Talwandi Sabo, Balkar Singh is in fray as an Independent candidate. Initially, he was declared as an AAP candidate but later was dropped and replaced by Baljinder Kaur (29).

While the total electors in Talwandi Sabo is 1,44,316, the number of electorates in Patiala is 1,51,461.

The bypolls were necessitated after Patiala's sitting MLA Amarinder Singh (Cong) got elected to Lok Sabha from Amritsar while in Talwandi Sabo, sitting Congress MLA Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu deserted the party to join ruling SAD.

In the 117-member Punjab Assembly, the strength of ruling SAD is 56, its ally BJP 12, Congress has 44 members while there are three independents.

To gain simple majority, SAD requires two more members so that its tally in the Assembly reaches 58. The counting will take place on August 25.