Bypolls took place for three Lok Sabha seats in the union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and the state of Himachal Pradesh (Mandi), and Madhya Pradesh (Khandwa) on October 30.
The 29 Assembly constituencies that were contesting bypolls included five seats in Assam (Gossaigaon, Bhabanipur, Tamulpur, Mariani and Thowra), four seats in West Bengal (Dinhata, Santipur, Khardah and Gosaba), three seats each in Madhya Pradesh (Jobat, Raigaon and Prithvipur), and Meghalaya (Rajabala, Mawryngkneng and Mawphlang), two seats each in Bihar (Tarapur and Kusheshwar), Karnataka (Hanagal and Sindgi), Rajasthan (Vallabhnagar and Dhariawad), and one seat each in Haryana (Ellenabad), Andhra Pradesh (Badvel), Maharashtra (Deglur), Mizoram (Tuirial), and Telangana (Huzurabad).
The elections to the three Lok Sabha seats were conducted following the deaths of its sitting members. The Mandi seat fell vacant after the demise of BJP (Bharatiya Janta Party)’s Ramswaroop Sharma in March this year. Khandwa parliamentary constituency seat fell vacant after the death of BJP member Nand Kumar Singh Chauhan, while in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the seat fell vacant after the demise of Independent Lok Sabha member Mohan Delkar.
In some states including Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan there was a direct contest between BJP and the Indian National Congress’ candidates, whereas in West Bengal, the main contenders in Dinhata, Santipur, Khardaha, and Gosaba were from the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the BJP.
For Dinhata and Santipur seats, bypolls were necessitated as two sitting BJP Members of Parliament (MP) Nisith Pramanik and Jagannath Sarkar did not take oath as Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA) after winning the state assembly polls earlier this year. Bypolls in Gosaba and Khardaha took place following the death of TMC’s winning candidate.
Ellenabad assembly seat in Haryana saw a triangular contest among the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Congress and the ruling BJP-JJP (Jannayak Janta Party) alliance. The then sitting MLA of Ellenabad constituency, in Sirsa district, Abhay Chautala had resigned in January this year over the farm laws issue.
In Assam’s Gossaigaon and Tamulpul, bypolls were necessitated due to the death of the sitting MLAs whereas MLAs from Bhabanipur, Mariana, and Thowra resigned from their seats to join the BJP. Three seats in Meghalaya also became vacant following the death of their sitting MLAs.
The campaigning for all three Lok Sabha and 30 assembly seats concluded on October 27. Voting on all seats was scheduled to end at 6 pm today. The votes will be counted on November 2. Though the bypolls aren’t going to contest the stability of any ruling government, the high-stake elections witnessed a close electoral battle between several political heavyweights who ramped up campaigning efforts in the last few weeks.
As per news reports, a heated argument took place between the BJP and TMC workers at Khardah constituency in North 24 Parganas district. The Election Commission sought a report on the same. There were similar complaints from Shantipur in Nadia district and Gosaba in South 24 Parganas district. “Most of these incidents took place outside the booths or polling stations. There is an adequate number of central forces as well as state police who are handling the situation with utmost precision. We are, however, keeping a close watch on everything,” an EC official reportedly said. Adequate security and Covid safety measures have been put in place for the electoral exercise, it was reported.
TMC alleged that CRPF personnel were ‘misbehaving and intimidating electorates’ in booth no 158 of Dinhata assembly constituency. Party leader Derek O’Brien requested strict action against the officials and demanded the team deployed be replaced to ensure fair polls and also filed a complaint in the matter.
Voting Turnout and Other Updates :
The five assembly constituencies in Assam recorded a 51.65 per cent turnout out of the total 7.96 lakh electors till 1 pm, an official was reported saying. Bhabanipur recorded the highest turnout at 62 per cent followed by 57.84 per cent in Gossaigaon, 54.42 per cent in Thowra, 47 per cent in Tamulpur, and 35.13 per cent in Mariana, as per news reports.
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Huzurabad constituency in Telangana reportedly recorded 61.66 per cent polling till 3 pm today. It had polled over 84 per cent in December 2018 assembly polls. The latest voting percentage reported for bypolls in Karnataka at 4 pm was 51.6 per cent in Sindgi constituency while Hanagal recorded 62.72 per cent voter turnout. Rajasthan recorded more than 54.23 per cent polling in Dhariawad assembly constituency while the figure for Vallabhnagar was 53.14 per cent by 3 pm today.
Dadra and Nagar Haveli recorded over 53.71 per cent polling till 3 pm as per the voter turnout mobile application. In Bihar, nearly 38 per cent turnout was recorded till 1 pm in Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur assembly seats. In Dinhata, 61.52 per cent votes were recorded while the number was 64.18 per cent in Santipur, 52.37 per cent in Khardaha and 66.07 per cent in Gosaba till 3 PM as per news reports.
