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AMBALA, MARCH. 14.
Polling all over the strategic frontier state of Punjab concluded today except in the snow-clad Kulu valley, which forms part of the Kangra parliamentary constituency. In the extreme north of the state bordering Tibet.
Elections in Kulu to fill two seats in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha and in the double-member Kangra parliamentary constituency will be held in June next when the valley will be cleared of snow and life returns to normal.
The last batch of seven constituencies which went to the polls today to elect eight representatives are: Pundri, Rajaund, Sufidon, Gohana, Muktsar, Amritsar City East and Amritsar City West.
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A fitting finale to the polling programme brought to a close by stage in nineteen days was provided today by the Amritsar City where voters thronged the polling booths in large numbers to choose two representatives from the city's east and west constituencies.
Amritsar District which attracted the largest number of voters on the first day of polling in the Punjab also recorded the heaviest polling today.
An estimated 70 per cent of the voters have cast their votes in the two constituencies of Amritsar where Maha-Punjab Samiti and Jan Sangh leaders are giving a tough fight to the Congress. In the West constituencies the Congress nominee Seth Radha Kishen, President of the Amritsar Municipal Committee, is being opposed in a straight fight by Mr. Balramjidas Tandon, convener of the Maha-Punjab Samiti. Candidates involved in the quadrangular contest in the east are Mr. Gian Chand Kharbanda (Congress), S. Kirpal Singh (P.S.P.), Dr Baldev Parkash (Jan Sangh) and an independent candidate, Mrs Mohinder Kaur. Keen interest is evinced by people all over the state in the elections to these constituencies as the Maha-Punjab Samiti and the Jan Sangh have made opposition in the Punjab Regional Formula the main plank of their election programme.
During the first four hours polling was at an average rate of 123 voters per hour in most of the polling booths. Women in greater number came to the booths then men.
Business in the city was virtually at a standstill. The pace of polling, however, slowed down in the afternoon probably because small batches of 'holi' revelers were making their appearances ready to splash coloured water on passers-by as preliminary to the main celebrations tomorrow.
According to reports received from Pundri, a rural constituency in Karnal district, Gohana in Rohtak and Safidon in Karnal, the final day's polling was marked by great enthusiasm among the voters. In Safidon the fight is between a caste Hindu nominee of the Scheduled Castes Federation Ch. Ram Singh and the Congress candidate Vaid Sri Krishan. The constituencies in the Punjab — which sent the first voter in the second general elections to the polls along with Orissa — lay spread over from the sparsely populated and inaccessible sub-countane regions to the arid regions in the erstwhile PEPSU State. To reach many of the polling booths the polling staff trek several miles or to go on the back of mules. Mule convoys carring ballot boxed were a common sight in the interior of the Ambala Division and the Kangra District. Highlight of this year's polling was the keen interest shown by women in exercising their democratic right. They came in large numbers to cast their vote as against their conspicuous absence in polling booths during the last elections. Polling was throughout peaceful . — P.T.I.
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