13 October,2009 05:56 PM IST | | IANS
Around 65 per cent of Haryana's 13 million electorate cast their votes till 5 p.m. for elections to the 90-member assembly that were marred by stray incidents of violence, including a poll agent being killed.
Incidents of violence were reported from Hemu Majra village in Guhla (reserved) seat in Kaithal district where Jyoti Ram, polling agent of independent candidate Kulwant Bazigar, was killed in a group clash with Congress supporters in the morning.
Reports of firing and clashes between Congress and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) supporters came in from Nima Kheri and other villages in Mewat district. Four people were injured in the incidents.
Police had to intervene to bring the situation under control.
The INLD filed a complaint to the Election Commission about booth capturing by Congress activists in Garhi Sampla-Kiloi constituency from where Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is contesting.
Voting started at 7 a.m. with rural voters showing more enthusiasm than their urban counterparts.
In places like Gurgaon, 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.
A confident Chief Minister Hooda headed to his native village Sanghi with his mother, wife and MP son Deepinder Singh Hooda to cast his vote, but not before going for his morning walk.
World No.1 boxer in the 75-kg category, Vijender Singh, cast his vote in his village, Kaluwas, on the outskirts of Bhiwani town.
Residents of Balri village in Indri assembly seat boycotted voting in protest against their area being ignored for development works.
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.
