Women wait to cast their votes outside a polling station in Agartala. (Press Trust of India)
Moderate to high turnout marked the by-elections held in 36 Lok Sabha and assembly seats spread across ten states in an exercise seen as yet another key test of Narendra Modi government's popularity since it assumed power in May. As polling began, the PM in a tweet, urged voters "across the country today to vote in large numbers".
Here are the latest developments:
Nearly 40 per cent voter turnout was recorded in most areas. While Uttar Pradesh recorded about 50 per cent till 5 pm, Gujarat and Assam recorded around 40 per cent. Tripura meanwhile recorded a high voter turnout of over 88 per cent. (High Turnout in Tripura Assembly By-Polls)
PM Modi won Vadodara by nearly six lakh votes, which was the highest victory margin in the national election that saw his BJP winning a decisive mandate to rule the country. Mr Modi chose to retain Varanasi in UP, the second constituency that he won.
According to the Election Commission, 7.01 per cent people cast their franchise in the first two hours after voting began in Vadodara. Ranjan Ben Bhatta is the BJP candidate here, pitted against Narendra Rawat of the Congress.
Around 53.2 per cent votes were polled in Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat where Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his MP wife Dimple Yadav cast their votes. Mainpuri in UP is a prestige battle for Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who vacated the seat and retained Azamgarh. The ruling BJP also has high stakes in UP, where it wants to retain its dominance; the party won a whopping 71 of 80 seats in the May election. The party has campaigned extensively in the 11 assembly constituencies going to polls.(Read)
By-polls were also held to the Medak Lok Sabha seat, where over 50 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 3 pm. The seat was vacated by Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Chief K Chandrasekhar Rao after he became the first Chief Minister of Telangana. (Read)
Polling also took place in 13 assembly seats in Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura and West Bengal. This morning, BSF jawans recovered a 5-kg Improvised Explosive Device (IED), less than a kilometre away from a polling booth in Chhattisgarh's Naxal-hit Antagarh constituency, the only seat in the state for which by-elections are being held. (Read: Amid Sporadic Violence, Brisk Polling in West Bengal)
The votes will be counted on Tuesday.
In by-polls last month in Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, the BJP's score was less than impressive. In Bihar, the alliance of former rivals Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar, along with the Congress, scored an impressive six out of 10 assembly seats. The BJP won four, which rivals said reflected voters' disappointment in three months of the new government.
The BJP also lost in Bellary in Karnataka, winning only one of three seats by a very modest margin.
The next round of polling will be held on October 15, when two major Congress-ruled states, Maharashtra and Haryana, will vote for new assemblies. The verdict will be announced on October 19.
Post a comment