NEW DELHI: Around 35 per cent polling was recorded in the elections to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) held here on Sunday. Apart from a few minor incidents at some places, the entire polling process went off peacefully. Counting of votes will take place on January 16.

Amid tight security, polling took place between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Some minor incidences of violence were reported from Hari Nagar, Defence Colony and Model Town.

Due to the cold weather, not many voters stepped out of their homes to exercise their franchise, resulting in a low polling percentage. For instance, of the around 8,800 registered voters in Defence Colony, only 3,500 exercised their franchise, while in the Connaught Place area only 1,300 votes were cast against the total number of voters of 4,400.

Counting of ballots on January 16 will decide the fate of the contestants in the fray for the 46-member DSGMC. Though there are over 12-lakh Sikhs in Delhi, only around 4.5-lakh of them are registered voters for the DSGMC elections.

The main contest is between three major parties -- the ruling Shiromani Akali Delhi led by president Harvinder Singh Sarna, SAD (Badal) led by Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee president Avtar Singh Hit and SAD (Panthak) led by Manjit Singh.

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