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A clash broke out between Aam Aadmi Party and Congress workers as some outsiders allegedly entered polling booths numbered 105 and 106 of Tagore Memorial School in Punjab's Gurdaspur amid a seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha elections on Saturday.
AAP leaders Neeraj Salotra and Bikramjit Singh Sodhi were seen speaking against the police officials. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sukhpal Singh brought the matter under control. Speaking on the incident, DSP Sukhpal Singh said, "While the voting going on in Tagore Memorial School Gopal Nagar, Nakul Mahajan, son of a Congresswoman councillor, had alleged that outsiders had come to the booth and were casting fake votes, after which an argument broke out between Congress and Aam Aadmi Party workers." Aam Aadmi Party workers accused Congress of casting fake votes. However, police officers present on the spot assured them that there was no case of fake voting and no outsider was present at the booth. Notably, all 13 parliamentary constituencies of Punjab voted on Saturday in the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The seventh and final phase on June 1 witnessed voting in Gurudaspur, Amritsar, Khadoor Sahib, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Nandpur Sahib, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot, Firozpur, Bathinda, Sangrur, and Patiala constituencies. In the previous Lok Sabha Elections of 2019, the INC-led UPA alliance secured eight seats with a vote share of 40.6 per cent, while the NDA managed to secure four with a voting percentage of 9.7. The AAP, making its debut, secured one seat. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and AAP bagged 4 seats each while Congress secured 3 seats. The BJP managed to secure only two seats. The counting of votes will be held on June 4. Polling for the earlier six phases of Lok Sabha elections was held on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20 and May 25. Assembly polls have also been held in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh. Odisha is also seeing simultaneous polls to Lok Sabha and assembly in the last four phases. The polling of the last phase started on Saturday in the 57 parliamentary constituencies spread across seven states and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. According to the Election Commission of India, over 10.06 crore electors including approximately 5.24 crore male, 4.82 crore female and 3574 third gender electors are expected to exercise their franchise. The counting of votes will be held on June 4. (ANI)
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