High voter turnout in Punjab, Goa; Kejriwal’s AAP makes it fierce triangular fight

Barring minor skirmishes and technical glitches in EVMs and Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines, which delayed voting for some time, the battle for Punjab passed off peacefully on Saturday with 75 per cent of the electorate casting their votes. The state had recorded 78.30 per cent turnout in the 2012 Assembly elections.

For the first time, Punjab witnessed a fierce triangular contest with the ruling SAD-BJP coalition locked into contest with Congress and AAP. Drug menace, farmer suicides, Guru Granth Sahib sacrilege incidents and unemployment were the key talking points in the run-up to the elections.

Mansa in Malwa region, which had become a focal point of the growth of AAP in the state, recorded the maximum polling of 85 percentage. This is the first outing for AAP in p outside Delhi where it rules with an overwhelming majority and all eyes will be on it to see if it can upset the applecart of the two major national parties.