Punjab witnessed a voter turnout of 61.32% as all 13 of its seats went to polls on Saturday in the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Meanwhile, approximately 68% of electors cast their votes in the Chandigarh parliamentary constituency.
Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Sibin C had set a target of achieving more than 70 per cent turnout in these polls.
In comparison, the voter turnout in 2019 was higher, with Punjab recording 65.96% and Chandigarh 70.62%.
Among Punjab's constituencies, Bathinda reported the highest turnout at 67.97%, while Amritsar had the lowest at 54.02%.
Other constituencies recorded the following turnouts: Gurdaspur 64.66%, Ferozepur 65.95%, Patiala 62.41%, Faridkot 60.78%, Sangrur 64.43%, Khadoor Sahib 61.60%, Anandpur Sahib 60.02%, Hoshiarpur 58.10%, Fatehgarh Sahib 61.18%, Jalandhar 59.07%, and Ludhiana 57.18%.
Despite the searing heat, voters continued to visit polling stations. Polling stations provided drinking water, shades, sweetened water ('chabeel'), medical kits, and oral rehydration solution (ORS) to mitigate the heatwave effects.
Several prominent figures cast their votes early, including Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, state BJP chief Sunil Jakhar, AAP leader Raghav Chadha, AAP candidates Malvinder Singh Kang and Karamjit Singh Anmol, BJP candidate Taranjit Singh Sandhu, SAD candidate Anil Joshi, and former cricketer Harbhajan Singh.
Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring voted in Muktsar with his wife. Congress candidate Gurjeet Singh Aujla voted in Amritsar, and the BJP's Chandigarh candidate Sanjay Tandon and his family voted in Chandigarh.
SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, his wife and Bathinda candidate Harsimrat Kaur Badal, along with their son and two daughters, voted in Muktsar.
BJP leader Tarun Chugh, former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa, and BJP leader Manpreet Singh Badal also cast their votes in Punjab.
Actor Ayushmann Khurrana and outgoing BJP MP from Chandigarh, Kirron Kher, voted in Chandigarh.
BJP candidate Preneet Kaur and her family voted in Patiala, though former chief minister Amarinder Singh did not vote due to health issues.
AAP MLA Neena Mittal received a notice for allegedly filming herself voting in Rajpura.
In Ludhiana, six villages boycotted the election to protest a proposed biogas plant, fearing it would contaminate underground water and air, causing health issues.
Notable candidates included BJP nominee Preneet Kaur seeking re-election from Patiala, three-time MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the BJP's Parampal Kaur Sidhu from Bathinda, former CM and Congress candidate Charanjit Singh Channi, and the BJP's Sushil Rinku from Jalandhar.
Radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh, detained under the National Security Act (NSA), contested from Khadoor Sahib.
Chandigarh's contest saw BJP candidate Sanjay Tandon against Congress's Manish Tewari.
Punjab had 328 candidates, including 26 women, while Chandigarh had 19 candidates, including two women. Punjab had 2,14,61,739 eligible voters, with 1,01,74,240 women and 773 third-gender electors. Chandigarh had 6,59,805 eligible voters.
For Punjab's 13 Lok Sabha seats, 24,451 polling stations were set up, with 5,694 identified as critical. This election saw INDIA bloc allies Congress and AAP contest separately, while the BJP and SAD fought independently for the first time since 1996.
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