Bypolls today Highlights: MP’s Amarwara records highest turnout, Uttarakhand’s Badrinath lowest at 40%

A scuffle broke out between TMC party workers and BJP candidate Manas Kumar Ghosh at a polling booth in Raiganj during the Assembly bypolls being held on July 18.  Krishna Kalyani is the TMC candidate from the Raiganj assembly seat in the by-election.

There were reports of clashes etween two groups in Uttarakhand’s Manglaur too. SP Rural Swapan Kishore Singh, however, said the situation is normal and the voting is taking place peacefully. 

Voting for bypolls took place at 13 assembly constituencies across seven states. This is the first electoral exercise since the Lok Sabha elections and will determine the fate of many veteran politicians as well as newcomers, including Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s wife, Kamlesh Thakur.

Bihar’s Rupauli seat had recorded 42.19 percent turnout till 3 pm. Himachal Pradesh’s Hamirpur saw 56.96 percent and Nalagarh recorded 63.7 percent turnout. Dehra in Himachal Pradesh saw 55.3 percent turnout till 11 am.

In Madhya Pradesh’s Amarwara, the turnout was 66.5 percent and in Punjab’s Jalandhar West, the turnout was 42.6 percent. In Tamil Nadu, Vikravandi recorded 64.44 percent turnout till 3 pm. 

Uttarakhand’s Badrinath had 40.5 percent voter turnout, while Manglaur recorded 56.21 percent turnout till 3pm. 

The bypolls are being held after vacancies created by the deaths or resignations of incumbent members. Many MLA’s have become Members of Parliament in the Lok Sabha now. 

Voter turnout at 3 pm

Uttarakhand’s Badrinath recorded the lowest turnout at 40.5 percent. The highest was recorded in Madhya Pradesh’s Amarwara.

West Bengal

Nearly 25% voter turnout registered till 11am: EC

In West Bengal, Bagda saw 22.63 percent, Raiganj saw 25.98 percent, Maniktala saw 21.89 percent and Ranaghat Dakshin saw 26.32 per cent turnout till 11 am, according to Election Commission of India.

Voting started at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.

Three of the constituencies – Maniktala in Kolkata, Ranaghat Dakshin, and Bagdah in North 24 Parganas – are located in the southern part of the state. The fourth constituency, Raiganj, is situated in north Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district. There are around 10 lakh voters across the four assembly segments.

The Election Commission has deployed around 70 companies of security forces to secure 1,097 polling booths spread across the four assembly seats. Counting will take place on July 13.

Raiganj BJP candidate accuses TMC of disturbing poll process

Manas Kumar Ghosh, the BJP candidate from the Raiganj assembly seat, alleged that the ruling TMC had tried to create disturbances in some booths in the constituency during the voting for the by-polls, which started at 7 am and concludes at 6 pm on Wednesday.

“Voting is going on smoothly. We want voting to take place peacefully and everyone should be able to cast their vote. TMC tried to create disturbances at 2-4 booths but we opposed them and voting is going on peacefully,” Ghosh told ANI.

The by-election in the Raiganj assembly constituency is necessitated because of the resignation of Krishna Kalyani as MLA, who won the 2021 election but later left the BJP and switched to the TMC.

Krishna Kalyani is the TMC candidate from the Raiganj assembly seat in the by-election.

Himachal Pradesh

Bypolls for three assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh were underway on Wednesday to determine the fate of 13 candidates, including Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s wife.

A large number of people made a beeline to the polling centres as voting started at 7 am at 315 polling stations in the three assembly segments of Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh. A total of 2,59,340 people are eligible to cast their vote.

The seats fell vacant after the three independent legislators Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra), Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur) and K L Thakur (Nalagarh), who had voted in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha polls held on February 27, resigned from the House on March 22.

They joined the BJP the next day but their resignations were accepted by the Speaker on June 3. Their seats were declared vacant, necessitating the bypolls.

The BJP has fielded all the three independent MLA from their respective seats.

The Congress has fielded Kamlesh Thakur, wife of the chief minister from Dehra, repeated its candidate Pushpinder Verma from Hamirpur and gave ticket to five-time Indian National Trade Union Congress president of the Himachal unit, Hardeep Singh Baba, from Nalagarh.

The results will be declared on July 13.

Uttarakhand

Voting for bypolls to Manglaur and Badrinath assembly constituencies is underway in Uttarakhand.

Polling began at 8 am on Wednesday and will go on till 6 pm, election officials here said.

The Manglaur bypoll was necessitated by the death of sitting BSP MLA Sarwat Karim Ansari in October last year. The Badrinath seat fell vacant after sitting Congress MLA Rajendra Bhandari resigned and switched to the BJP in March this year.

The BSP has fielded Ansari’s son Ubedur Rehman against Congress nominee Qazi Nizamuddin in Manglaur.

Gujjar leader and BJP nominee Kartar Singh Bhadana is also in the fray from the Muslim and Dalit-dominated constituency which has been held either by the BSP or the Congress in the past.

In Badrinath, there is a direct contest between BJP’s Rajendra Bhandari and Congress newcomer Lakhpat Singh Butola.

The other two candidates in the fray in Badrinath are former CRPF officer Himmat Singh of the Sainik Samaj Party and Naval Khali, a journalist who is contesting as an Independent candidate.

Votes for the bypolls will be counted on July 13.

Punjab

In Punjab, the bypoll to the Jalandhar West assembly segment is being seen as a litmus test for Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who has pulled out all the stops to register a win after the party’s drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls.

The seat, which fell vacant after Sheetal Angural resigned as AAP legislator, is witnessing a multi-cornered fight.

Fifteen candidates are in the fray for the by-election while there are a total of 1.72 lakh voters who are eligible to cast their votes.

The ruling AAP has fielded Mohinder Bhagat, the son of former minister and former BJP MLA Bhagat Chunni Lal. Bhagat had joined the AAP after quitting the BJP last year.

The Congress has placed its bet on Surinder Kaur, who is the former senior deputy mayor and five-time municipal councillor in Jalandhar. She is a prominent Dalit leader of the Ravidassia community.

The BJP has fielded Angural, who switched sides in March after quitting the AAP. He had won this seat in the 2022 Punjab assembly polls on an AAP ticket.

Winning the bypoll is important for Mann as his party faced a drubbing in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, winning only three of the 13 seats.

Mann led the AAP’s campaign for the bypoll and canvassed for Bhagat by holding public meetings and roadshows. He rented a house in Jalandhar and moved there along with his family and had said he would keep the house even after the bypoll.

Prestige is also at stake for the BJP which also wants to emerge victorious in the Jalandhar West seat after drawing a blank in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The counting of votes for the bypolls will be held on July 13.