Ludhiana: Polling is underway for the by-election to the Ludhiana West Assembly seat in Punjab, with 41.04 percent voter turnout recorded till 3 pm. Candidates from all four major political parties cast their votes earlier in the day.
Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu was seen moving from booth to booth on a scooty to monitor the polling process across the constituency.
Meanwhile, a case of alleged bogus voting emerged from Sarabha Nagar, where a voter claimed that his vote had already been cast when he presented his slip to the polling officer.
The bypoll was necessitated following the death of Aam Aadmi Party MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi. The AAP has fielded its Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora for the seat.
Party sources suggest that if Arora wins, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal could be nominated to the Rajya Sabha from the Punjab quota.
The Shiromani Akali Dal has nominated Parupkar Singh Ghumman, a noted lawyer known for securing the death sentence in the Dilroz murder case. The BJP has fielded former minister and senior RSS leader Jeevan Gupta.
A total of 1,75,469 voters are eligible to vote in the constituency, with 194 polling stations set up. Voting will continue until 6 pm, and the results are scheduled to be declared on June 23.
