Seen as a major electoral test for the Opposition’s Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance or INDIA against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ahead of the assembly polls in five states later this year and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the results for bypolls to seven assembly seats in six states will be declared on Friday. The counting of votes began at 8am at centres set up in the respective states.
The seven seats, including Bageshwar in Uttarakhand, Ghosi in Uttar Pradesh, Puthuppally in Kerala, Dhupguri in West Bengal, Dumri in Jharkhand, and Boxanagar and Dhanpur in Tripura, went to voting on September 5.
Out of the seven seats, three (Dhanpur, Bageshwar and Dhupguri) were held by the BJP and one each by the Samajwadi Party (Ghosi), CPI(M) (Boxanagar), JMM (Dumri) and the Congress (Puthuppally).
Top updates on bypoll results of seven seats:
1. Uttar Pradesh’s Ghosi saw the INDIA bloc putting up a united front in the by-election. The voting turnout in Ghosi was just above average at 50.77 per cent. The Ghosi seat fell vacant after the resignation of Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA and OBC leader Dara Singh Chauhan, who rejoined the BJP.
2. In Jharkhand’s Dumri, a total of 64.84 per cent of 2.98 lakh voters exercised their franchise. The election commission has set up the counting centre at Krishi Bazar Samiti, Pachambha, in Giridih district. “In all, 24 rounds of counting will be held and over 70 officials have been deployed for the exercise,” Giridih deputy commissioner-cum-election officer Naman Priesh Lakra told news agency PTI. Even as the main contest is said to be locked between Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)’s Bebi Devi and AJSU Party’s Yashoda Devi, AIMIM’s Abdul Rizvi, who emerged fourth in a four-corner contest in 2019, has made efforts to make the fight triangular this time around as well. While the JMM was backed by the INDIA allies Congress and the RJD, Yashoda Devi of AJSU Party was backed by the BJP, its senior partner in the NDA. On Tuesday, both INDIA and NDA fronts claimed victory for their candidate.
3. The counting of votes for the Bageshwar assembly bypoll in Uttarakhand will be done at 14 tables with 130 polling personnel on the job, district magistrate Anuradha Pal said. The Bageshwar seat fell vacant after the death of its MLA and cabinet minister Chandan Ram Das in April this year. He had won the seat four times since 2007.
4. In Tripura, the counting of votes to both the seats – Boxanagar and Dhanpur — will take place at Sonamura Girls’ HS School. BJP’s Tafajjal Hussain, who unsuccessfully contested the last assembly election from Boxanagar, is contesting against CPI(M) nominee Mizan Hussain from the same seat. On Wednesday, the CPI(M) announced to boycott the counting alleging a largescale rigging in the two constituencies during voting.
5. For Dhupguri in West Bengal, which saw a widespread violence during the assembly and panchayat elections, personnel of the central armed forces and state police are guarding the strong room on the second campus of North Bengal University in Jalpaiguri. Here, the voting turnout was around 76 per cent. CPI(M)’s Ishwar Chandra Roy is contesting as the candidate of the Congress-Left alliance, while the ruling TMC has fielded Nirmal Chandra Roy, who is a teacher. Tapasi Roy, the widow of a CRPF jawan who died fighting terrorists in Kashmir a few years back, was given the BJP ticket. The bypoll to the seat was necessitated due to the death of sitting BJP MLA Bishu Pada Ray earlier this year.
6. Kerala’s Puthuppally, which saw an intense battle between the UDF and LDF to fill the seat left vacant by the demise of Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy, is also anxiously waiting for the result. The constituency, located in the southern Kottayam district, saw a fierce war of words for the past few weeks as the September 5 by-election was a prestigious battle for both the ruling and opposition fronts in the state. The counting of votes will begin at the special station in the Baselius College. Postal and service ballots would be counted first. The total number of booths in Puthuppally was 182, and the counting of votes in the electronic voting machines would be conducted in 13 rounds.
Source- Hindustan Times.
