A voter turnout of over 50 per cent was recorded till 5 pm on Wednesday in the by-election to the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat which is witnessing a four-cornered electoral battle.
Punjab Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sibin C said Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator from Baba Bakala (Amritsar), Dalbir Singh Tong, was arrested for violating the model code by being present in the Jalandhar constituency during the polling for the Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency bypoll. He was later released on bail.
The Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal leaders alleged that a large number of AAP leaders and workers from outside the constituency were stationed in Jalandhar in violation of the code of conduct despite Election Commission (EC) direction to all outsiders for leaving Jalandhar after campaign got over at 6 pm on Monday.
Meanwhile, Sibin C thanked the people of Jalandhar lok sabha seat for coming out to exercise their democratic right. He said the focus of the Election Commission was to ensure a peaceful poll in a free and fair manner.
The CEO said that it was a matter of great satisfaction that all polling stations saw good numbers of voters. Sibin C thanked all the polling personnel, security personnel and Punjab Police personnel for working day and night to ensure free, fair and peaceful bye polls in Jalandhar lok sabha seat.
Voter turnout of 29.5 per cent was recorded in the first five hours in the bypoll after the voting for a four-cornered electoral contest began at 8 a.m.
There are over 16 lakh electorates including 8,44,904 male, 7,76,855 female, 10,286 persons with disability, 1850 service electors, 73 overseas electors and 41 transgender in the Lok Sabha constituency.
In all,  19 candidates are in fray including 15 male and four Female, he said adding three of these are from national parties, one from state party, seven from unrecognised parties and eight are Independent candidates. Five contesting candidates are with criminal antecedents.
All eyes are on this high-stakes electoral battle in Punjab with all main political parties vying to score a few points by winning the seat ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Be it, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), main Opposition party Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party (SAD-BJP) combine or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), winner in Jalandhar bypoll will get the bragging rights in the state where no party can claim a clear edge in this four-cornered contest.
A Congress stronghold, the Jalandhar seat fell vacant after Congress’ Member of Parliament (MP), Santokh Singh Chaudhary (76), died of a heart attack during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Punjab this January.