With 73 per cent of voting turnout till 6 pm, the fate of 12 candidates was sealed in voting machines at Shahkot Assembly seat, for which the bypoll was necessitated after the death of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) legislator Ajit Singh Kohar.

Earlier in 2017 Assembly elections, the Shahkot constituency had recorded 78.60 per cent voting turnout.

As per the reports, the turnout was very low (38 per cent) till 1 pm due to the acute hot weather conditions, however, it picked up steadily after 4 pm and there was no report of any violence during the polling.

Candidates, including Naib Singh Kohar of SAD and Hardev Singh Ladi Sherowalia of Congress and Rattan Singh Kakkar Kalan of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) cast their ballots at their respective booths.

Later, addressing a press conference in Chandigarh, Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Dr S Karuna Raju said the bypoll was conducted in a peaceful way.

However, a case was registered against former home minister Brij Bhupinder Lalli for allegedly taking his licensed revolver inside the polling booth, the Punjab CEO said.

Meanwhile, four Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and one control unit were replaced at polling booths after they malfunctioned during mock polling, Dr Raju said.

He further said that the election authorities received 43 complaint of illegal liquor, out of which 27 were resolved. Total 75 litres illegal liquor was seized in the constituency, he added.

He also said that 1,416 personnel of polling staff and 1,022 personnel of Punjab police and Border Security Force (BSF) had been deputed in Shahkot.

He said that there was a list of total of 1,72676 voters and 12 candidates were in fray in this constituency.

Dr Raju said there were 236 polling stations in the constituency, out of which 103 were being covered with webcasting. Dr Raju further said that voting was held from 7 am to 6 pm.

Polling to the Shahkot bypoll commenced at 7 am on Monday and continued till 6 pm. The bypoll is being seen as a popularity test of the 14-month-old Congress government in the state.

The Captain Amarinder Singh-led government has been facing criticism from the Opposition for not fulfilling promises made to the voters in the run-up to the 2017 Assembly elections.