Punjab assembly by-polls rescheduled to November 20

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The Election Commission on Monday rescheduled Assembly bypolls for four seats in Punjab from November 13 to November 20 in view of festivals, an official statement said. Besides Punjab, nine seats are going to polls in Uttar Pradesh and one in Kerala. The four Assembly segments in Punjab are Gidderbaha, Barnala, Dera Baba Nanak and Chabbewal. The counting of votes is scheduled for November 23. In Punjab, the 555th Prakash Parv of Guru Nanak Dev falls on November 15 and an 'Akhand path' will be organised from November 13 onwards.

Punjab's four Assembly seats -- three represented by the Congress and one by AAP -- fell vacant after MLAs from these constituencies were elected to the Lok Sabha this year. The bypoll was earlier scheduled on November 13. Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, the Congress legislator from Gidderbaha, was elected from the Ludhiana Parliamentary seat, while Raj Kumar Chabbewal, a Congress MLA who later switched loyalties to AAP, became MP from the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha seat. Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who was a Congress legislator from the Dera Baba Nanak seat, was elected from the Gurdaspur parliamentary seat, while Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, the AAP legislator from Barnala, was elected as MP from the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat.

The Congress has fielded Warring's wife Amrita Warring from Gidderbaha, while Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa's wife Jatinder Kaur from Dera Baba Nanak, Ranjit Kumar from Chabbewal and Kuldeep Singh Dhillon from Barnala. Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Sibin C. said the total number of voters in the four constituencies is 6,96,316, with a total of 831 polling stations. For Dera Baba Nanak, there are 1,93,268 voters and 241 polling stations. In Chabbewal, the number of voters is 1,59,254, with 205 polling stations. For Gidderbaha, the total number of voters is 1,66,489, and 173 polling stations will be established. The Barnala Assembly seat has 1,77,305 voters and 212 polling stations.