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Tribune News Service
Chandigarh/Rohtak, May 12
Both Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress accused each other of voter intimidation and booth capturing on Sunday, even as Haryana’s 10 parliamentary constituencies recorded 67.35 per cent turnout.
In the 2014 general election, the overall poll percentage stood at 71.86.
State Joint Chief Electoral Officer Inderjeet Singh said the exact percentage would be known later and those voters who had entered the polling booths before 6 pm will be allowed to cast their votes.
The turnout in seven constituencies crossed 60 per cent, while the poll percentage in Gurgaon, Karnal and Faridabad was less than 60 per cent, the officer said.
Voting got off to a sluggish start but began picking up later on Sunday morning. The state registered 54.66 per cent voting until 5 pm.
Congress leader Deepender Hooda, who is the Congress candidate from Rohtak—a seat he currently holds—accused Haryana Minister of State for Cooperatives Manish Kumar Grover of forcibly entering polling booths in Rohtak and intimidating voters while police remained “mute spectators”.
He has written to Returning Officer (RO) Yash Garg to demand an FIR against Grover.
“It’s an arrogance of power that Grover along with musclemen and black cat commandos are freely going inside polling booths in the city and intimidating voters. The law says he cannot enter the polling booth,” Hooda said to reporters after he lodged a complaint.
Congress senior leader Bharat Bhushan Batra claimed he got into a heated argument with Grover at a booth in Kathmandi. Batra, a former Rohtak MLA, said: “I found the minister, his musclemen and some other outsiders intimidating voters inside a polling booth at Bharti Tek Kanya School in Kathmandi. When I asked him why he had entered a polling booth and asked him to show is an authority letter, he began arguing with me. Then he went away, and did the same thing at another booth. I intervened there as well,” Batra said.
The complaint has led to election authorities restricting Grover's movements. The minister has been told to remain in his office until the end of voting.
Grover meanwhile brushed aside the allegations as Congress party’s attempt to defame him in the face of an “imminent defeat”.
“I went to the booth on getting information that Batra and his supporters were creating problems to the voters there,” he added.
BJP's legal cell lodged a complaint against Congress leader Batra and his supporters election of voter intimidation and booth caputuring later in the afternoon.
Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli was among early voters who exercised his franchise at a polling booth in Gurgaon. After exercising his franchise, he posted a picture of his inked finger on his Twitter handle.
Voting is your right and responsibility towards nation building. Go vote,” he tweeted while urging voters to go out and cast their vote.
Polling was initially slow in Gurgaon and Rohtak but started to pick pace as the day progressed.
Haryana's joint chief electoral officer Inder Jeet said polling was going on peacefully across the state.
He said there were some glitches in EVMs and VVPATs at a few booths early in the morning, but the machines were replaced immediately.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was among the early voters in Karnal while former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda of Congress, fighting from Sonipat, cast his vote in Kiloi in Rohtak district. The state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar exercised his franchise in Sirsa. JJP candidate and Hisar sitting MP Dushyant Chautala also cast his vote in Sirsa.
Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) leader Digvijay Chautala, candidate from Sonepat, alleged that at booths number 88, 89 and 90 in Jind district, his party symbol (a pair of slippers) was "not clearly visible on EVM machines".
"This is a serious matter and the Election Commission must look into this," Digvijay said.
Enthusiastic voters were seen at several places. A bridegroom went to cast his vote in Mullana in Ambala parliamentary constituency before solemnising his marriage.
At Sirsa and Hisar, voters queued up since early morning to cast their vote. There were reports of a few centenarians also exercising their franchise. Som Dutt, 98, exercised his franchise at a booth in Yamunanagar, Shanti Devi, 92, who reached the booth on a wheelchair, cast her vote in Ambala city.
Clashes were reported in Mewat’s Neemka after a voter, identified only as Masood, was allegedly not allowed to vote. Villagers allegedly beat up Gajender Verma.
Poll officer Inder Jeet said over 1.80 crore people are eligible to vote in the state.
Altogether, 223 candidates, just 11 of them women, are in the fray.
Prominent among them are Union ministers of state Rao Inderjit Singh from Gurgaon and Krishan Pal Gurjar from Faridabad. Union minister Birender Singh's son Brijendra Singh (BJP) and former chief minister Bhajan Lal's grandson Bhavya Bishnoi (Congress), both political greenhorns, are contesting from the Hisar Lok Sabha seat, where they face JJP's Dushyant Chautala, who is the grandson of former chief minister O P Chautala.
Former Union minister Kumari Selja and state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar are fighting from Ambala and Sirsa, respectively, for the party. AAP state president Naveen Jaihind is contesting from Faridabad. Among the major parties in the fight are the BJP, the Congress and the INLD, which are fighting 10 seats independently. The JJP, which was formed after a split in the INLD six months ago, is contesting on seven seats, while the remaining three seats are being fought by its ally the AAP. The BSP is fighting on eight, leaving two for its ally Loktantra Suraksha Party floated by rebel BJP MP Raj Kumar Saini.
A large number of women were seen in queues at the tastefully decorated 'Sakhi Matdan Kendras', which are exclusively run by women and have been set up in each assembly segment. With agency inputs
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