26052024-TT-01.qxd 5/25/2024 11:43 PM Page 1 123 SHARIF TO UNVEIL CPEC PH-II IN CHINA WORLD /thetribunechd CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 144 NO. 145 | 20 PAGES | ~7.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 HIMACHAL PRADESH NASA TO TRAIN INDIANS: GARCETTI BACK PAGE sunday | 26 may 2024 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com At 64.2%, Haryana turnout lower than ’19, Sirsa leads with 69%; Delhi records 54% 57.8% voters cast ballot in Karnal Assembly byelection where CM Saini is in the fray Bhartesh Singh Thakur & Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service Chandigarh/NewDelhi, May25 The voter turnout in Saturday’s polling for the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana crossed the 64 per cent mark. The polling figure in the state stood at 64.2 per cent late at night. The seven Lok Sabha constituencies of Delhi witnessed 54 per cent voter turnout, as per data released at 10 pm, against 60.52 per cent recorded in 2019 when the BJP had swept all seats. Haryana Chief Secretary TVSN Prasad said, “The elections have passed off peacefully across the state.” According to the office of the Haryana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), the final figures will be updated on Sunday. In the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, the voter turnout was 70.34 per cent. In the bypoll to the Karnal Assembly seat, from where Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini is contesting, the turnout was 57.8 per cent till 8 pm when the data was last updated. In 2019, the turnout here was 52.4 per cent. “The final figures will be known by Sunday,” said Manish Kumar Lohan, an HCS officer coordinating Women queue up to vote in the Uklana Assembly segment of Hisar district on Saturday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: ASHOK KUNDU POLLING HIGH IN RURAL AREAS OF HARYANA The polling was high in rural areas in Haryana where resentment against the BJP was visible. The urban areas witnessed low voting. with the media on behalf of the CEO’s office. CEO Anurag Agrawal said, “Whosoever was standing till 6 pm was allowed to vote. We are hopeful of the voting percentage touching last time’s figure.” The highest polling percentage was recorded in the Sirsa parliamentary con- FARIDABAD WITNESSES LOWEST VOTER TALLY Seat Voting %age Ambala 67 Bhiwani-M’garh 65.3 Faridabad 60 Gurgaon 60.7 Hisar 64.7 stituency at 69.1 per cent where BJP’s Ashok Tanwar and Congress’ Kumari Selja are locked in a tight battle. It was followed by the Ambala Lok Sabha seat with a 67 per cent turnout. Here, Congress’ Varun Chaudhary is pitted against BJP’s Banto Kataria. Kurukshetra recorded 66.3 Seat Karnal Kurukshetra Rohtak Sonepat Sirsa Voting %age 63.2 66.3 64.6 62.3 69.1 per cent voting. Here, BJP’s Naveen Jindal, Indian National Lok Dal’s Abhay Chautala and Aam Aadmi Party’s Sushil Gupta are locked in a triangular battle. The lowest turnout was witnessed in the Faridabad constituency at 60 per cent. Gurgaon recorded 60.7 per cent INDEPENDENT MLA DIES SHORTLY AFTER VOTING Independent MLA from the Badshahpur Assembly constituency in Gurugram Rakesh Daultabad died a few hours after voting. Daultabad, who passed away due to a cardiac arrest, was a popular youth leader. vote. Political observers are keenly watching the outcome in the Karnal Lok Sabha seat where former CM Manohar Lal Khattar is facing a tough fight from young Congress leader Divyanshu Budhiraja. The voter turnout here was 63.2 per cent. Caste polarisation was pal- CEC: J&K Assemblypoll process to kick off soon 65.9% in 5 phases: EC’s absolute poll data out Tribune News Service Says no one can alter it | 67.3% in 2019 New Delhi, May 25 Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar on Saturday said the poll panel would soon initiate the process for holding the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Speaking to mediapersons after casting his vote during the sixth phase of polling in the national capital, he said, “The turnout in the Lok Sabha poll in J&K has been heartening. They deserve their government and we will initiate the process for holding the Assembly elections very soon.” On March 16, while announcing the schedule for the Lok Sabha poll, Rajiv Kumar had said the Assem- Terms turnout in LS elections in UT heartening bly elections in the union territory could not be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections from the security point of view. “The Election Commission stands committed to holding the Assembly poll in J&K soon after the Lok Sabha elections,” Rajiv Kumar had said. The Assembly elections in J&K will bolster the government’s standing on the global stage, especially with the West being critical of it over the increasing hiatus in the democratic process. It will continued on page 7 Animesh Singh Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 25 Under pressure from civil society groups over the delay in releasing absolute data on voter turnout, the Election Commission (EC) on Saturday, more than a month after the General Election began, released the complete numbers for the first five phases. The turnout, as per the EC, after the culmination of the five phases stood at 65.9 per cent, which is slightly lower than 67.3 per cent recorded after the five phases in 2019. The phase-wise turnout for the first five completed rounds stands at 66.14 per Modi’s mujra jibe at Oppn; Priyanka says keep post’s dignity New Delhi, May 25 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday used a “mujra” analogy to accuse the opposition INDIA bloc parties in Bihar of practising vote bank politics, triggering sharp reactions from Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who urged the PM to “maintain the dignity of his post”. Addressing a rally in Patliputra Lok Sabha constituency’s continued on page 7 LOWEST IN SRINAGAR, RECORD HIGH IN DUBRI ■ Srinagar saw lowest turnout at 38.4%, though it was highest for the seat since 1996 ■ At 92%, Assam’s Dhubri saw the highest polling in 5 phases ■ Andhra’s Ongole and Chittoor saw 87.06% and 85.7% polling cent, 66.71 per cent, 65.68 per cent, 69.16 per cent and 62.2 per cent, respectively. In 2019, the turnout for these phases stood at 69.4 per cent, 69.6 per cent, 65.9 per cent, 69.5 per cent and 62.4 per cent. Srinagar recorded the lowest turnout at 38.4 per cent, continued on page 7 A first: Gandhis vote for non-Cong nominee in New Delhi MANAS RANJAN BHUI AAP’s Somnath Bharti Oppn face in seat that once elected first woman CM Sucheta Kripalani Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 25 For the first time in their political careers, the Congress’ top brass—Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra—on Saturday voted for a nonCongress nominee in the New Delhi parliamentary constituency where they are registered voters. Apart from former Congress presidents Sonia and Rahul Gandhi takes a selfie with mother Sonia after voting in New Delhi. and her son Rahul, general secretary Priyanka, her husband Robert Vadra and chil- dren Raihan and Miraya also voted for a non-Congress candidate. Under a seat-shar- ing arrangement, the Congress conceded the VVIP constituency too AAP which , fielded Somnath Bharti. The sacrifice of the New Delhi and other segments to AAP as part of the pre-poll deal continues to cause anxiety in the Congress ranks even though Sonia justified it saying the 2024 election was about “saving the Constitution and democracy”. Congress cadres, however, don’t take the visuals of Gandhis voting for AAP as heartening, especially because AAP has grown at the expense of the grand old party in Delhi. Right from the start, senior Delhi Congress leaders had wanted this seat, along with North East Delhi where late three-term Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had finished second in 2019 behind BJP’s Manoj Tewari, to stay with the Congress. In the New continued on page 7 Today’s issue is of 20 pages, including six-page Spectrum. c m y b pable in the polling at Hisar from where three from Devi Lal’s clan — Ranjit Singh, Sunaina Chautala and Naina Chautala — and Congress’ Jai Prakash are locked in a battle. It witnessed 64.7 per cent turnout. Another key seat is Rohtak, a stronghold of former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda. It witnessed 64.6 per cent polling. In the district-wise tally, Yamunanagar recorded the highest turnout at 71.4 per cent. It is a part of the Ambala Lok Sabha seat. It was followed by Fatehabad district at 69.9 per cent, which is a part of the Sirsa Lok Sabha seat. The voting was boycotted at Sunderpur village in Jind and Majri Tappu village in Yamunanagar. Agrawal said, “The DCs concerned had gone to convince voters. They were raising development issues.” The highest polling in the state was recorded in the 1977 Lok Sabha elections at 73.26 per cent followed by the 1967 General Election when the turnout was 72.61 per cent. In the 2014 poll, the voting percentage was 71.45. As many as 223 candidates, including two union ministers, a former CM and a film actor, are in the fray for the 10 continued on page 7 People wait to cast their vote at a polling station in Anantnag. ANI 59% vote in Phase-6, WB reports clashes Animesh Singh Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 25 Polling for 58 Lok Sabha seats across eight states and union territories ended on Saturday in the sixth phase of voting amid sporadic incidents of violence and complaints of EVM tampering in West Bengal with a voter turnout of 59.06 per cent, according to the preliminary data released by the Election Commission of India at 7.45 pm. This is the lowest turnout in the six phases of polling that has taken place so far since the beginning of the Lok Sabha elections on April 19. In 2019, the voter turnout on these 58 seats was 64.9 per cent. In 2019, while the BJP and its NDA constituents had won 44 seats, the Congress had failed to win any of these seats. AT 52.2%, ANANTNAG HITS 28-YEAR HIGH The Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency recorded its highest voter turnout in 28 years with 52.2% of voters exercising their right to franchise till 7.45 pm. The earlier highest figure was 50.2%, which was recorded in 1996. With the culmination of polling in the six phases held so far, voting is now over in 28 states across 485 Lok Sabha seats (excluding Gujarat’s Surat seat where the BJP candidate had received a walkover much before the actual voting day). Polling is also over for 105 Assembly seats in Odisha. The state has a total of 147 Assembly seats. West Bengal recorded the continued on page 7
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