By IANS,
Chandigarh : Amid stray incidents of violence, including a poll agent being killed, over 36 percent of Haryana’s 13 million electorate cast their votes in the first six hours of polling for elections to the 90-member assembly Tuesday.
Bawani Khera assembly seat near Bhiwani saw the highest turnout of 49 percent till 1 p.m. The lowest was Bawal, close to Manesar near the national capital, at 21 percent, election officials said.
Incidents of violence were reported from Hemu Majra village in Guhla (reserved) seat in Kaithal district where Jyoti Ram, the polling agent of independent candidate Kulwant Bazigar, was killed in a group clash with Congress supporters Tuesday morning.
An incident of firing was reported from Nima Kheri village in Mewat district between Congress and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) supporters. Two people were injured in the incident.
Voting started at 7 a.m. with rural voters showing more enthusiasm than their urban counterparts. The voting will continue till 5 p.m.
In places like Gurgaon, for instance, balloting got off to a slow start. With most offices in the suburban town closed, people were slow to come out of the high-rise buildings and bungalows to exercise their franchise.
Haryana has an electorate of over 13 million – 7.1 million men and 5.9 million women. The highest number of voters are in the Gurgaon assembly constituency – over 231,000. In a span of just five months, nearly 1.1 million new voters have been added to the voters’ list in Haryana, officials said.