Less than 9% polling in Haryana

Chandigarh:Less than nine per cent of over 1.80 crore voters in Haryana turned out in the first three hours of polling on Sunday to elect members of Parliament for 10 seats in the penultimate phase of general elections, officials said.

"The voter turnout was 8.79 per cent by 10 a.m.," an electoral official told IANS after polling started at 7 a.m. in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Gurugram, Faridabad, Hisar, Sirsa, Karnal, Sonipat, Bhiwani-Mahendragarh and Rohtak.

The highest turnout was in the high-profile Hisar at 11 per cent, followed by 10.49 in Sirsa (reserved).

Polling was delayed in some booths in Yamunanagar, Mahendragarh and Gohana towns due to malfunctioning electronic voting machines (EVMs).

At the polling booth number 84 in Gohana the faulty EVM could not be rectified till 10 a.m., so only two votes were cast in three hours.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, former Chief Minister and Congress candidate from Sonipat Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Union Ministers Rao Inderjit Singh, Krishan Pal Gurjar and Birender Singh and Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli were among the early voters in the state.

Khattar, who took a train from Chandigarh to Karnal city to cast his vote, appealed to the voters to participate in the world's largest festival of democracy by exercising their franchise as early as possible.

Likewise did India skipper Kohli, who cast his vote in Gurugram.

Rao Inderjit Singh, Gurjar and Hooda were among the 223 candidates, comprising 11 women, whose fate will be sealed by voters.

The BJP, Congress, Om Prakash Chautala-led Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and its breakaway the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) are the main political parties in the fray.

The state has over 1.80 crore voters, including 83,40,173 women and 207 transgender.