Chandigarh, April 10
Barring stray incidents, polling in Haryana remained peaceful with the state is set to create a record with over 73 per cent voters casting their franchise.

Haryana’s Chief Electoral Officer Shrikant Walgad said an estimated 73 per cent of the 1.6 crore voters cast their votes in the elections which were largely peaceful. The percentage in terms of votes polled could be a record this time and the figures were being finalised, he added. While in 2009 the voter turnout in the state was 68 per cent, in 2004 it was 65.72 per cent. The highest-ever polling of 73.26 per cent was reported in 1977.

Residents of Kosli town falling under Rohtak parliamentary constituency boycotted the poll to protest the state government’s apathetic attitude towards their demands. Kosli is dominated by Ahir community and has 8,140 votes. Voters in Sultanpuria (Sirsa), having over 9,100 votes, stayed away from voting to protest government’s indifference towards their demand for a water channel from Ghaggar. Voters in Kakaut village in Kaithal district boycotted Lok Sabha poll to protest the inclusion of their village in Kalayat Assembly constituency.

A violent clash was reported between the INLD and the HJC workers at a booth in the Azad Nagar locality of Hisar town this afternoon. The incident occurred when HJC candidate Kuldeep Bishnoi went to the polling station following complaints of booth capturing at some places.

When he barged into the booth, an INLD agent objected to it. This led to a verbal duel which turned violent leaving at least three persons injured.

A firing incident was reported from Hatjin in Faridabad in which three persons sustained injuries.

Key candidates among a total of 230 whose fate has been sealed include industrialist Naveen Jindal, Deepender Hooda, Avtar Singh Bhadana and Shruti Chaudhry (all Congress) and former Union minister Rao Inderjit Singh (BJP) who is taking on Yogendra Yadav of AAP.

As many as 16,240 polling stations, including 11,700 in the rural areas, had been set up in the state to ensure smooth voting. A maximum number of 41 candidates were contesting from Hisar parliamentary seat whereas the least number of 14 candidates each were in poll fray from Ambala and Rohtak parliamentary constituencies.