Polling is also being held in the by-election to 51 Assembly seats and two Lok Sabha constituencies spread across 17 States. The two Lok Sabha seats where the by-polls are being held are Samastipur in Bihar and Satara constituency in Maharashtra. The voting commenced at 7 am and will end at 6 pm. The Assembly constituencies for which the bypolls are in progress are – 11 seats of Uttar Pradesh, 6 in Gujarat, 5 seats each in Kerala and Bihar, 3 in Sikkim, 4 each of Punjab and Assam, 2 each of Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh and one seat each in Odisha, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Pudducherry and Arunachal Pradesh. Counting of votes for both the Assembly elections and by-polls in the States will be on Thursday. In Bihar, an estimated 29 per cent voter turnout was recorded for five assembly seats and Samastipur Parliamentary till 1 PM. Voting is progressing peacefully amidst tight security arrangements. The assembly constituencies where by-polls are being held are: Kishanganj, Daraunda, Belhar, Nathnagar and Simri Bakhatiarpur. 51 candidates are in the contest. JD(U) and RJD are contesting on four seats each. BJP and Congress are fighting from Kishanganj assembly constituency. LJP and Congress are contesting on Samastipur Lok Sabha seat. In Rajasthan, polling for by-election to Mandava and Khinwsar assembly constituencies is going on smoothly. No untoward incident has been reported so far. According to State Election office, 41.09 % voter turnout was reported in Mandawa and 32.12 % in Khinwsar till 1.00 p.m. Both the assembly seats fell vacant after the sitting MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha. In Gujarat, average 28 per cent turnout has been recorded till 1 pm in the by-polls to six assembly seats. Voting is underway peacefully. Polling began at 8 am and will continue till 6 in the evening. AIR correspondent reports that 42 candidates are in the fray. The main contest is between the ruling BJP and opposition Congress. In Puducherry, 2.71 per cent voting was recorded in the by-poll to Kamaraj Nagar assembly constituency, till 1 PM. Polling was peaceful so far. Nine candidates are in the fray. The main fight is between Congress candidate John Kumar who is supported by the DMK and others and N R Congress candidate Buvaneswaran being backed by the AIADMK and BJP. By-election to three assembly constituencies of Gangtok and Martam-Rumtek in East Sikkim and Poklok-Kamrang in South Sikkim is progressing smoothly. Till 1 PM, approximately 46.30 % voter turnout was reported. Sikkim’s oldest voter 107-year-old Sumitra Rai exercised her franchise at a polling station in Kamrang Government Secondary School in Poklok Kamrang constituency. Sikkim Governor Ganga Prasad cast his vote for the Gangtok assembly bypoll at the White Hall polling station, where he appealed to voters to participate in the festival of democracy. Polling will continue till 5 pm. |
