36.6% Turnout Till 1 PM in Tarn Taran Bypoll as Punjab Parties Battle for Prestige

 A voter turnout of 36.62 per cent was recorded till 1 pm in the polling for the Tarn Taran Assembly bypoll in Punjab on Tuesday.

Congress candidate Karanbir Singh Burj and AAP candidate Harmeet Singh Sandhu were among the early voters.

Speaking to reporters, Burj appealed to voters to come out and exercise their right of franchise and bring the right party and candidate forward.

Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Sukwinder Kaur Randhawa accompanied by her daughter Kanchanpreet Kaur voted at a polling station in Kaka Kandiala village.

The Tarn Taran assembly seat fell vacant following the death of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Kashmir Singh Sohal in June.

The bypoll is seen as a litmus test for Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and AAP leaders, who aggressively campaigned to retain this seat.

Stakes are also high for the Congress, which has fielded its Tarn Taran district unit chief Burj for the bypoll. An agriculturalist and real-estate businessman, Burj is contesting elections for the first time.

Prestige is also at stake for the BJP which is expecting a victory in the bypoll.

The AAP has fielded Sandhu, a three-time MLA from Tarn Taran, who joined the ruling party in July this year.

He was elected to the assembly from Tarn Taran as an Independent in 2002 and in 2007 and 2012 on a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) ticket. He unsuccessfully contested elections from the seat in 2017 and 2022.

The BJP fielded Harjit Singh Sandhu, the president of the party's district unit, as its candidate for the bypoll.

The election is equally crucial for SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, who, along with his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal, aggressively campaigned for party candidate Sukhwinder Kaur Randhawa, a retired government school principal and the wife of a 'Dharmi Fauji'.

Many Sikh soldiers who deserted the Army following Operation Blue Star in 1984 are called 'Dharmi Fauji'.

Another candidate in the fray is Independent nominee Mandeep Singh, the brother of Sandeep Singh alias Sunny, an accused in the 2022 murder of Shiv Sena (Taksali) leader Sudhir Suri.

Sandeep Singh is also an accused in an attack on three former police officers, including two convicted in a fake encounter case in Tarn Taran, inside the Patiala jail. One of the convicted former officers, Suba Singh, succumbed to his injuries on September 17.

Mandeep Singh has the backing of Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) led by jailed Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh, Giani Harpreet Singh-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Punar Surjit), Simranjit Singh Mann-led SAD (Amritsar) and some radical Sikh bodies, including the Sikh Youth Federation (Bhindranwala).

In the 117-member Punjab Assembly, the AAP presently has 93 MLAs, Congress 16, SAD three, BJP two and the Bahujan Samaj Party one. One seat is held by an Independent.

The number of eligible voters is 1,92,838 -- 1,00,933 male, 91,897 female, and eight third-gender -- in the constituency.

A total of 222 polling stations have been set up at 114 locations, of which 60 are urban and 162 are rural, including four 'model' and three 'pink' polling booths, officials said.

Officials said 12 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have been deployed in the assembly constituency and it is one of the largest deployment of CAPF ever by the Election Commission in any bye election.