New Delhi, Nov 3 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people across the country to exercise their right to vote in the bypolls in several states on Tuesday. While the focus is understandably on Madhya Pradesh where 28 seats are going to polls and will determine the future of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, bypolls are also taking place elsewhere – from the northeast to down south to the shores of the Bay of Bengal.
Nagaland
83.69 per cent of the electorate had cast their votes till 6 p.m. for bypolls to the two Assembly seats in Nagaland on Tuesday since the election authorities have taken elaborate security measures and ensured strict adherence to Covid-19 protocols, election officials said.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Abhijit Sinha earlier said that the bypolls are being held in Southern Angami-1 seat in Kohima district and in Pungro Kiphire constituency in Kiphire district. The bypolls to Southern Angami-1 and Pungro Kiphire seats were necessitated following the deaths of the then Assembly speaker Vikho-o Yhoshu and T Torechu of the Naga People’s Front respectively.
“The polling is by and large peaceful so far. No major incident reported yet,” Sinha earlier told IANS over the phone.
Altogether eight candidates were in the fray — three in Southern Angami-1 and five in Pungro-Kiphire.
Karnataka
Meanwhile, voting for bypolls to two seats in Karnataka also took place on Tuesday morning amid tight security and the Covid pandemic. Till 6 pm, the voting percentage was 51.30. Of the two seats, Congress had won RR Nagar and Janata Dal (S) had won Sira, in Tumkuru in 2018 Assembly polls.
The electoral fortunes of 31 candidates including four women, will be decided by the 6.76-lakh electorate, including 7,000 first-time voters. Of the four women candidates, Congress has fielded political novice, H. Kusuma, widow of former IAS officer, D.K. Ravi and Janata Dal (S) have fielded Ammajamma, widow of B. Sathyanarayana in Sira, about 120 km northwest of Bengaluru. The Sira bypoll was necessitated after the death of B. Satyanarayana on August 5 after prolonged illness.
Haryana
68 per cent polling was registered in by-elections in the Baroda Assembly segment in Haryana till 6 pm on Tuesday, with women turning out in large numbers to cast their votes. The polling was sluggish in the morning hours but picked up after noon. Long queues were seen outside most polling booths.
The Congress pitted former Sonepat Zila Parishad member Induraj Narwal against BJP candidate and Olympian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) fielded Joginder Singh Malik.
A total of 1.81 lakh voters will decide the fate of 14 candidates, including seven Independents, though the main contest is between ruling BJP and opposition Congress. The counting of votes will be held on November 10.
Baroda is considered a stronghold of Congress leader and former two-time Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who aggressively campaigned along with his MP son Deepender Hooda.
Gujarat
Meanwhile, voting for bypolls in eight Assembly seats in Gujarat also took place, on Tuesday. According to the Election Commission, a voting percentage of 57.29 was registered by 6 PM.
A total of 81 candidates are fighting for the eight seats of Abdasa, Kaprada, Karjan, Gadhada, Morbi, Dhari, Limdi and Dangs. Bypolls for these eight seats were necessitated due to the resignation of the Congress legislators, 5 of whom defected to the BJP.
In all these 8 seats, the fight is primarily between the BJP and the Congress.
Telangana
Down south, Telangana too witnessed a bypoll on Tuesday in Dubbak Assembly constituency of Siddipet district. Till 6 PM, the polling percentage was 81.44.
The TRS has fielded Ramalinga Reddy’s widow S. Sujatha. She was locked in a three-cornered contest with Congress party’s Cheruku Srinivas Reddy and BJP’s M. Raghunandan Rao. A total of 1,98,807 voters comprising 97,978 men, 1,00,778 women and 51 service voters, were eligible to cast their votes.
According to Returning Officer B. Chennaiah, more than 5,000 revenue and police personnel including men drawn from Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were deployed as part of the elaborate arrangements to ensure free and fair polls.
Bypoll also took place in one constituency of Chhattisgarh (Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi) which saw 71.99 per cent votes till 6 pm and two seats in Jharkhand, namely Bokaro and Dumka. They both saw voting of 60.3 and 65.27 per cent respectively, till 6 pm.
Odisha too had 2 seats for bypolls – Balasore and Jagatsinghpur. Overall, the eastern state saw 68.08 per cent voting till 6 pm.
Apart from these, high voltage bypolls took place in 7 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh and 28 seats in Madhya Pradesh.
Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from IANS service.