Voter turnout dropped by over five percent in 2022 Punjab Assembly polls with 71.95 percent voters exercising their franchise on Sunday as compared to 77.2 percent in 2017 Assembly polls.

Giving the final details on Monday, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Punjab, S Karuna Raju said 71.95 % of the total 2.14 crores voters in the state turned out to exercise their franchise which is 5.25 percent less than the voter turnout in the 2017 Assembly polls. He said of the total 15469618 persons who have cast votes, there were 8133930 Males and 7335406 Females, while 282 were transgenders.

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The CEO said of a total of 117 constituencies of the state, Gidderbaha remained at the top with the highest polling percentage 84.93 percent, followed by Talwandi Sabo (83.70 percent) and Sardulgarh (83.64 percent), while Amritsar West (55.40 percent), Ludhiana South (59.04 percent) and Amritsar Central (59.19 percent) constituencies have witnessed lowest voting percentage.

Raju said scrutiny reports of all the 23 districts have been received at the Office of Chief Electoral Officer. He said over 23 tonnes of Covid waste, which includes PPE Kits, face masks, hand gloves, face shields, etc, was generated from 24740 Polling Stations on polling day in the state. The waste was collected and disposed of with the help of District Nodal Officers of Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) appointed in each district in an environmentally sound manner, he added.

On the law and order situation, Raju said that some minor poll-related incidents were witnessed in the state, and a total of 33 First Information Reports (FIRs) have been registered on the day of polling to avert any untoward incidents. Of a total of 33 FIRs, 10 were related to minor clashes, 16 were of violation of prohibitory orders, three poll-related offences, three of other cases, and one was related to firing incidents.

Raju said after voting ended peacefully at 6 p.m. on Sunday all the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) have been moved to the respective Strong Rooms.

All the 117 Strong Rooms at 66 locations were sealed and as per the ECI guidelines, three-tier security measures have been set up with the deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), Armed Police, and Punjab Police.

He said that security forces have been keeping strict vigil round the clock at Strong Rooms. Divulging more details, he said that 65 ballot units, 60 control units, and 738 VVPATs were replaced during the conduct of the poll. Raju once again thanked the people of Punjab for coming out in large numbers to exercise their democratic right in a peaceful the festive environment.