By IANS,
Chandigarh: Over 65 percent of the 1.67 lakh voters cast their ballot Wednesday in the by-election from the Dasuya assembly constituency in Punjab, in which the ruling SAD-BJP combine is locked in a triangular contest, in its bid to retain the seat.
The polling began at 8 a.m. Wednesday and ended at 5 p.m., election officials said here. Voters queued up for voting despite the sweltering heat since morning.
The main contest is between the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) combine candidate Sukhjit Kaur Sahi and Arun Dogra of the Congress. Making the contest triangular is Bhupinder Singh of the Peoples Party of Punjab.
Sukhjit Kaur is officially the BJP candidate.
The seat fell vacant June this year after sitting BJP legislator Amarjit Singh Sahi, who was a chief parliamentary secretary in Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s government in Punjab, died following a heart attack.
He had won the seat in January this year by a margin of nearly 6,200 votes. The BJP fielded his widow, Sukhjit Kaur for the by-election.
Tight security arrangements were in place for the bypoll.