Over 50% polling in Haryana by-election

Jind (Haryana):Haryana's Jind Assembly seat's multi-cornered by-election registered an over 50 per cent voter turnout by 2 p.m. on Monday, officials said.

The bye-election was necessitated after the death of INLD legislator Hari Chand Middha in August 2018.

There was no untoward incident anywhere in the constituency, District Electoral Officer Amit Khatri told reporters here.

Despite the early morning chill, voters queued up at some polling stations even before the voting exercise began at 7 a.m. It will end at 5 p.m.

Women turned out in strength in the rural areas.

There were minor hiccups as some electronic voting machines developed snags at some places.

Over 3,000 Haryana Police personnel and para-military forces have been stationed in the constituency.

Over 1.72 lakh registered voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in Jind. The constituency has a substantial vote of the Scheduled Castes (SC) and backward classes (around 50 per cent) and Jats (around 25 per cent).

The bye-election is a test for all the four parties in the fray -- the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the newly formed Jannayak Janata Party (JJP). There are total 21 candidates.

The four main candidates are Randeep Singh Surjewala (Congress), Krishan Middha (BJP), Umed Singh (INLD) and Digvijay Chautala (JJP).

This by-election is being seen as a referendum on the over four years of the BJP government in Haryana.

Counting of votes will take place on January 31.

In 2014, the INLD got 31,631 votes, followed by the BJP (29,374) and Congress (15,267).