Bypolls: Voting in three Lok Sabha, 30 assembly seats across 14 Indian states begins

Team Udayavani, Oct 30, 2021, 9:06 AM IST

Source: Twitter / @CeoRajasthan

New Delhi: Voting for three Lok Sabha seats and 30 state assembly seats across 14 states in India is underway today. The counting of votes will be on November 2.

West Bengal:

In West Bengal, Voting began at 7 AM on Saturday for by-polls to the four assembly constituencies of Dinhata in Cooch Behar, Shantipur in Nadia, Khardah in North 24 Parganas, and Gosaba in South 24 Parganas districts, an election commission of India (ECI) official said.

In Dinhata, TMC’s heavyweight north Bengal leader Udayan Guha is fighting to reclaim the seat which BJP had snatched from him by a whisker in polls held last April. Guha, a two-time MLA from Dinhata, is up against BJP’s Ashok Mandal, who as a TMC candidate had defeated him, a Forward Bloc candidate then, in 2006.

State minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, who resigned from Bhabanipur to facilitate Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s election to the Assembly, is fighting from Khardah, where TMC’s Kajal Sinha died due to COVID-19, just days after polls to the seat were held Bypoll to the Gosaba seat in Sunderbans was also necessitated by the death of TMC’s Jayanta Naskar, who too was suffering from Covid.

The EC has deployed 27 companies of central armed forces in Dinhata, 22 in Santipur, 20 in Khardah, and 23 in Gosaba, an official said.

Bihar:

Polling is underway for Tarapur and Kusheshwar Asthan assembly seats in Bihar where by-elections have been necessitated by the deaths of sitting MLAs, both belonging to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U).

Altogether 17 candidates are in the fray for the two seats, eight in Tarapur and nine in Kusheshwar Asthan.

The JD(U)’s bid to retain these seats is being challenged by the RJD headed by Kumar’s arch-rival Lalu Prasad.

The RJD, which boasts of a formidable support base in the form of the Muslim-Yaadav (MY) combination, has made the battle harder for JD(U) with its deft play of the caste card in both seats.

Madhya Pradesh:

Voting began Saturday morning for by-elections to one Lok Sabha and three Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh, an official said.

As many as 48 candidates are in the fray in four constituencies where straight fights are expected between the ruling BJP and opposition Congress. Voting started at 7 am and will end at 6 pm, the official said.

Altogether 26,50,004 voters are eligible to exercise franchise during the bypolls. Of 3,944 polling centers across four constituencies, 865 are deemed as sensitive by the administration.

Webcasting has been arranged at 874 polling stations while CCTV cameras have been installed at 361 centers.

Sixteen candidates each are in the fray for by-polls to Khandwa Lok Sabha seat and Raigaon (SC) Assembly constituency.

In these seats, two ballot units have been placed in each polling center due to the high number of candidates.

Ten candidates are in the fray in Prithvipur and six in Jobat (ST) assembly constituencies.

Assam:

Polling for bye-elections to five Assam Assembly constituencies began at 7 am on Saturday amid heightened security and strict implementation of COVID-19 protocols.

Some 7.96 lakh voters will decide the electoral fate of 31 contestants, the state election office said.

Voting started in 1,176 polling stations, including 285 in Gossaigaon, 213 in Bhabanipur, 322 in Tamulpur, 183 in Mariani, and 173 in Thowra constituencies.

Polling will continue till 5 pm in the poll-bound constituencies.

The prominent contestants include Rupjyoti Kurmi, Sushanta Borgohain, Phanidhar Talukdar (all BJP); Luhit Konwar, Jowel Tudu, Sailendra Nath Das, Bhaskar Dahal, Monuranjan Konwar (all INC); Krishna Gogoi (CPI); Jiron Basumatary, Jolen Daimary (both UPPL); Dhruba Kumar Brahma Narzary (BPF); Jubbar Ali and Khairul Anam Khandakar (both AIUDF).

Rajasthan:

Voting for bypolls to the assembly constituencies of Vallabhnagar (Udaipur) and Dhariawad (Pratapgarh) in Rajasthan to decide the fate of 16 candidates began amid tight security arrangements on Saturday morning.

The polling began at 7 am in both the constituencies and will go on till 6 pm, Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta told PTI.

The bypolls were necessitated by the demise of Congress MLA from Vallabhnagar Gajendra Singh Shaktawat and BJP legislator from Dhariawad Gautam Lal Meena.

A total of 5,11,455 voters – 2,53,831 in Vallabhnagar and 2,57,624 in Dhariawad – will be able to exercise their franchise. Nine candidates are in the fray for the Vallabhnagar seat and seven for Dhariawad, Gupta said.

Meghalaya:

Voting was underway for the by-elections in three assembly constituencies in Meghalaya amid tight security.

Chief Election Officer FR Kharkongor said polling began at 7 am in all the polling stations in Mawryngkneng, Mawphlang and Rajabala assembly constituencies. The initial hour saw brisk polling, he added.

The by-elections were necessitated, following the demise of the sitting MLAs of the three seats.

A total of 13 candidates are in the fray for the bypolls to the three seats. Five candidates each are contesting from Mawryngkneng and Rajabala constituencies, while three are in the fray in Mawphlang constituency.

Over 1 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the bypolls.

Karnataka:

Voting is underway for the bypolls in Sindgi and Hangal assembly constituencies in Karnataka, election officials said on Saturday.

The polling began at 7 am will go on till 7 pm.

A total of 19 candidates are in the fray in the two constituencies, including six from Sindgi and 13 from Hangal. Two candidates from Sindgi are women.

Himachal Pradesh:

Voting for bypolls to Mandi Lok Sabha and Arki, Fatehpur, and Jubbal-Kotkhai assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh began at 8 am on Saturday, officials said.

A total of 12,99,756 voters for Mandi Lok Sabha, 87,222 for Fatehpur, 92,609 for Solan, and 70,965 voters for Jubbal-Kotkhai Vidhan Sabha seats may exercise their right to franchise till 6 pm.

According to officials, 2,484 polling stations and 312 auxiliary polling stations have been set up for bypolls.

The by-elections were necessitated following the death of sitting members.

(With inputs from PTI)