Good turnout: credit to candidates and Poll body

With more than 65 per cent electors coming out to exercise their franchise,it may very well be a cliff-hanger of a contest with the sealed EVMs likely to throw up some interesting results on March 6. The candidates,who’s fate has been sealed,can draw consolation from the fact that their efforts paid dividends. Besides the distribution of voter slips at the houses exclusively by the Booth Level Officers and the proximity of the polling stations from the electors’ houses,among other factors that contributed to the high percentage of polling was the ‘do-or-die approach’ taken by the candidates. So much so that some candidates in Amritsar had even pressed into service scores of auto-rickshaws to ferry voters to the polling stations and take them back home. The impressive turnout is also attributed to the peaceful environment during the campaigning and the Election Commission’s zero tolerance policy towards the violations. Long queues of voters were seen by the noon at many polling stations.