Kairana Lok Sabha bypoll will test the popularity of the ruling BJP.
New Delhi: By-elections to four Lok Sabha seats, including the politically crucial Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, and 10 assembly constituencies across 10 states are being held today. Besides Kairana, by-elections are taking place in Bhandara-Gondiya and Palghar parliamentary constituencies in Maharashtra, and Nagaland Lok Sabha seat.
Bypoll to Kairana will see a joint opposition taking on the ruling BJP. The constituency fell vacant after the death of BJP MP Hukum Singh. His daughter Mriganka Singh is now the party's candidate for the bypoll and she will take on Rashtriya Lok Dal's (RLD) Tabassum Hasan, who is supported by the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The opposition hopes that by consolidating anti-BJP votes, they will repeat the success of the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha by-elections, where the ruling party suffered an unexpected defeat.
Here are the live updates on Kairana bypoll:
May 28, 2018 16:23 (IST)
The issues were with VVPAT machines and not EVMs. The problem has been solved now. Some machines have been replaced at some booths. The voting is now running smoothly: Shamli district magistrate Vikram Singh
May 28, 2018 15:16 (IST)
Over 30 per cent polling was recorded till 1 pm. The EC has given an assurance that faulty EVMs are being changed and repoll will be ordered, where ever necessary.
According to the Election Commission, till 1 pm, Kairana recorded 30.61 per cent polling, while the polling percentage in Noorpur Assembly constituency was 33 per cent.
May 28, 2018 14:43 (IST)
Opposition Samajwadi Party and RLD have complained of snags in EVM machines. "Getting reports of problems in EVMs in the by election but still voters should go for casting votes), SP president Akhilesh Yadav said in a tweet.
SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary charged that 140 EVMs have been tampered with in Noorpur and similar reports have also come in from Kairana. "BJP wants to avenge defeat in earlier bypolls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur anyhow and win these by polls," Mr Chaurdhary charged.
RLD spokesman Anil Dubey said there are reports of EVM malfunctioning in both the constituencies, specially in areas where the RLD-SP have influence. "We (RLD and SP) are going to meet the CEO to lodge a formal complaint in this regard," he said.
May 28, 2018 14:34 (IST)
Electronic Voting Machines in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra hit by heat wave, says Election Commission
May 28, 2018 13:52 (IST)
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May 28, 2018 13:51 (IST)
According to the Election Commission, there are 16.09 lakh voters in Kairana. This includes 8.73 lakh male voters and 7.36 lakh female voters. Noorpur Assembly constituency has 3.06 lakh voters.
May 28, 2018 13:47 (IST)
Malfunctioning machine being replaced in Kairana's Vaish Inter College
May 28, 2018 12:55 (IST)
Kairana parliamentary constituency has five assembly segments -- Shamli, Thana Bhawan and Kairana in Shamli district, and Gangoh and Nakur in Saharanpur district.
Similarly, the by-election to Noorpur Assembly seat was necessitated by the death of sitting BJP MLA Lokendra Singh Chauhan in a road accident in February.
In Noorpur, the BJP announced the name of Avani Singh, wife of late MLA Lokendra Chauhan, as its candidate. The SP has fielded Naeemul Hasan as its candidate.
May 28, 2018 12:45 (IST)
Faulty Vote Machine Charge In UP's Kairana Where It’s BJP vs Opposition As by-polls took place across nine states on Monday, there were allegations of malfunctioning voting machines at Kairana and Noorpur in Uttar Pradesh, constituencies seen as testing grounds for opposition unity against the states ruling BJP."
May 28, 2018 12:24 (IST)
May 28, 2018 11:58 (IST)
21.34 % voting recorded till 11 am
May 28, 2018 11:25 (IST)
May 28, 2018 10:58 (IST)
A copy of complaint letter
May 28, 2018 10:48 (IST)
May 28, 2018 10:40 (IST)
RLD candidate Tabassum Hassan has filed an official complaint on VVPATS. She has claimed that 59 VVPATS are not working.
May 28, 2018 10:26 (IST)
10.20% Voting Recorded Till 9 AM, reports news agency ANI
May 28, 2018 09:23 (IST)
Visuals from a polling booth in Shamli
May 28, 2018 08:20 (IST)
Voting stalled at Public Inter College, Kairana due to faulty VVPAT, reports news agency ANI
May 28, 2018 08:01 (IST)
Apart from the BJP's traditional upper caste Hindu vote, Mriganka Singh also has the loyalty of members of her own caste, Kairana's 1.4 lakh Hindu Gujjars.
May 28, 2018 07:56 (IST)
For RLD president Ajit Singh and his son and vice-president of the party, Jayant Chowdhury, the Kairana election presents the opportunity to reclaim their core supporters of Jats, the dominant agrarian caste of Western UP, which shifted loyalties to the BJP in the general election after Hindu-Muslim violence tore through areas of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts in 2013.
