Haryana Assembly Polls 2014: Voting largely peaceful; record turnout in Haryana

NEW DELHI: Haryana today registered a record voter turnout in the Assembly elections with 73 per cent of the electorate exercising their franchise to choose the next government in the state.

In Maharashtra, which also voted today for Assembly polls, a turnout of 54.6 per cent was recorded till 5 PM.

Deputy Election Commissioner Sudhir Tripathi said that since voting was still going on, the Commission's "guesstimate" is that the turnout figure could touch 62 per cent in Maharashtra.

Voting was "by and large" peaceful in both the states barring a few incidents of violence.

In Maharashtra's Gadchiroli, Naxals exploded a landmine and opened fire on a polling party. A CRPF jawan was hurt in the incident and has been airlifted for treatment to Nagpur.

Further, an exchange of fire also took place between security forces and naxalites in Tadpalli forests, also in Gadchiroli. No one from either side was injured in this incident and it did not affect the poll process at a nearby polling station, Tripathi said.

Deputy EC Umesh Sinha, in charge of Haryana, said that the state recorded its highest-ever voter turnout during the course of polling today. In the 2009 polls, 72.37 per cent votes were cast, he added.

Responding to a query about a TV-channel owner allegedly trying to influence voters, Sinha said one of the complaints related to that.

EC was hoping that the voter turnout would increase in Maharashtra after final figures are collated at the end of polling. In the 2009 Assembly polls, the figure was 59.49 per cent.

Director General in EC, PK Dash, said that enforcement authorities have seized Rs 17.92 crore in cash in Maharashtra during the elections, which was "the highest ever".

Authorities also recovered 4.61 lakh litres of liquor worth Rs 10.19 crore. "Out of 348 notices, 73 confirmed cases of paid news were found," he said.

In Haryana, Rs 3.10 crore in cash was recovered, while 1.82 lakh litres of liquor worth Rs 3.69 crore was seized.

Out of over 190 notices of paid news, 67 cases have been confirmed, Dash added.