Haryana local body polls: 25 per cent polling witnessed till 1 pm

An average voter turnout of 25 per cent was witnessed till 1 pm in the polling for the local body elections, including the municipal corporations of Ambala, Panchkula and Sonipat in Haryana on Sunday, officials said. There are 20 wards for polling with 1.98 lakh voters being eligible to exercise their franchise for the Ambala municipal corporation.

An average voter turnout of 25 per cent was witnessed till 1 pm in the polling for the local body elections, including the municipal corporations of Ambala, Panchkula and Sonipat in Haryana on Sunday, officials said. Polling is underway for the election of mayor and ward councillors in the three municipal corporations (MC) of Ambala, Panchkula and Sonipat, president and councillors in Rewari Municipal Council; and presidents and councillors in the municipal committees of Sampla in Rohtak district, Dharuhera in Rewari district, and Uklana in Hisar district. In addition, by-elections are also being held for one ward each of municipal councils and municipal committees in Tohana, Jhajjar, Rajound, Taraori, Kanina and Sadhaura. The main contest in the municipal elections is expected between the Congress and the ruling party BJP. Tight security arrangements have been made by police in the wake of polls. There were 8.73 lakh eligible voters for the local bodies and a total of 817 polling booths have been set up for polling. Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini appealed to people to exercise their franchise. In Ambala, the BJP has fielded Akshita Saini, while the Congress nominee is Kulwinder Kaur for the post of mayor. Independent candidate is Sonia Rani. There are 20 wards for polling with 1.98 lakh voters being eligible to exercise their franchise for the Ambala municipal corporation. For Panchkula MC, the BJP has nominated Shyamlal Bansal and the Congress candidate is Sudha Bhardwaj as mayoral candidates. The AAP has fielded Rajesh Kumar, while the Indian National Lok Dal nominee is Manoj Agarwal. Thera are 20 wards for voting in Panchkula for the MC poll with 2.07 lakh eligible voters. For the Sonipat MC poll, the BJP's candidate is Rajiv Jain and the Congress nominee is Kamal Diwan for the post of mayor. There are 22 wards for the Sonipat MC poll with 2.96 lakh eligible electors. Queues of voters could be seen outside polling stations in many places. Polling for all posts, which began at 8 am, will continue till to 6 pm, officials said. The votes will be counted on May 13.PTI CHS DV DV