A voter turnout of around 63.91 per cent was recorded in the by-elections to Punjab's four assembly segments with the Gidderbaha segment recording the highest polling at 81.90 per cent, officials said on Thursday.

Polling for the bypolls to the Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal (SC) and Barnala assembly segments took place on Wednesday. The by-elections were necessitated after the incumbent legislators were elected to the Lok Sabha.

Of the 6.96 lakh eligible voters in these four assembly segments, 4.45 lakh voters, including 2.15 lakh women, cast their votes, according to officials.

The Gidderbaha segment recorded 81.90 percent polling, Dera Baba 64.01 percent, Barnala 56.34 percent and Chabbewal 53.43 percent, they said.

In the 2022 assembly polls, Gidderbaha had recorded 84.93 voter turnout, Dera Baba Nanak 73.70 percent, Barnala 71.45 percent and Chabbewal 71.19 percent.

The main contesting political outfits in the bypolls were the Aam Aadmi Party, Congress and BJP. The Shiromani Akali Dal did not fight the elections.

Among the key contestants in the fray were former Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, Kewal Singh Dhillon, Sohan Singh Thandal and Ravikaran Singh Kahlon (BJP), Amrita Warring and Jatinder Kaur (Congress), and Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon and Ishank Kumar Chabbewal (AAP).

Amrita Warring is the wife of the Congress' Punjab chief and Ludhiana MP Amrinder Singh Raja Warring. Jatinder Kaur is the spouse of Gurdaspur MP and former deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.

The AAP currently has 91 MLAs in the 117-member Punjab Assembly, while the Congress has 15. The Shiromani Akali Dal has three MLAs, BJP two, and the Bahujan Samaj Party one.

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