With the counting of votes for the by-elections, held on October 21 in four Assembly segments of Punjab, to be conducted on Thursday, all the prominent political parties in the State are claiming to have an upper hand.
While the SAD-BJP combine are expressing confidence of winning all four seats, the ruling Congress is also convinced of keeping up its victory march by winning all seats.
SAD is contesting on two seats — Dakha and Jalalabad, in alliance with the BJP which has fielded its candidates on another to seats — Phagwara and Mukerian.
Though unsure, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on the other hand, is also “hesitatingly” claiming to make a mark, at least in one of the segment.
The exit polls have also predicted two seats each for the SAD-BJP combine and the Congress, while giving none to the State’s principal Opposition party, AAP.
The election officials claimed that all arrangements have also been put in place for the counting of votes for by-polls on Thursday, and the counting will begin at 8 am. Adequate security arrangements have also been made in and around the counting centres, the official added.
An overall turnout of 65.57 per cent was recorded in the by-polls for the for the four Assembly seats, for which a total of 33 candidates were in fray.
The highest polling was witnessed in Jalalabad at 75.46 percent, followed by 71.64 percent in Dakha and 58.62 percent in Mukerian. Phagwara reserve seat recorded a voter turnout of 55.97 per cent.