New Delhi, January 29, 2012
Elections will be held tomorrow to choose a new 117-member legislative assembly in Punjab and a 70-member House in the hill state of Uttarakhand amidst tight security arrangements.
Outdoor campaigning in both states came to an end yesterday evening after which candidates began moving from house-to-house in a last-minute effort to woo voters.
The two states are among the five going to the polls in crucial assembly elections between January-end and early March. Polling was held in Manipur yesterday, while polling is due to be held on March 3 in Goa. Polling will be conducted in seven phases in Uttar Pradesh between February 8 and March 3.
Counting of votes will be held in all five states on March 6 and all results are expected to be out by evening that day.
In Punjab, a total of 1078 candidates are in the fray, including Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who is seeking another term, and Congress leader and former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who has been projected as his party's chief ministerial candidate. There are 93 women in the contest.
A total of 17683559 voters, including 9322545 men and 8361014 women, are eligible to exercise their franchise in tomorrow's polling in Punjab.
The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine, the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have fielded their candidates in all the 117 constituencies.
The SAD, as the senior partner in the ruling alliance, is constesting 94 seats, while the BJP has been allotted 23 seats.
Among other parties, the newly-formed Punjab People's Party led by Badal's estranged nephew Manpreet Badal, is contesting 92 seats, the Communist Party of India (CPI) 14 and the CPI (Marxist) 9. Independents and others in the fray account for 612 candidates.
The Election Commission has set up 19841 polling stations for the elections. About 200 companies of Central Para-Military Forces, besides personnel of the Punjab Police, have been deployed to ensure smooth polling.
Apart from the Chief Minister, who is contesting from Lambi and Amarinder Singh, who is contesting from Patiala city, the Chief Minister's son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal is in the fray from Jalalabad and Amarinder Singh's son Raninder Singh from Samana.
Former Chief Minister Rajinder Kumar Bhattal is contesting from Lehra.
Manpreet Badal is contesting from Gidderbaha and Maur and his father and the Chief Minister's younger brother Gurdas from Lambi, from where the senior Badal is seeking re-election.
In the last elections in 2007 the SAD-BJP alliance had captured power, with the SAD wining 49 seats and the BJP 19. The Congress had won 44 and independents five.
In Uttarakhand, a total of 6380085 voters, including 3353563 men and 3025353 women, are eligible to cast their votes in tomorrow's elections.
There are a total of 788 candidates in the contest, including 63 women.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are contesting all 70 seats.
Among the other parties, the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (P) has put up 44 candidates, the CPI (M) 6 and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) 20. There also 503 independents and candidates of registered but unrecognised parties.
A total of about 11300 electronic voting machines will be deployed in 9806 polling stations across the state.
NNN
