Assembly bypolls: Voting on in 7 states; Himachal leads with 32% till 11 am

Polling for by-elections in 13 constituencies in seven states got underway on Wednesday (July 10) amid heavy deployment of security forces. Reports of clashes came from Uttarakhand.  

Vikravandi assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu recorded a poll percentage of 29.97 by 11 am, according to official data. A voter turnout of 32.7 per cent was recorded till 11 am in the three Assembly segments of Himachal Pradesh.

A turnout of 18.48 per cent was registered till 11 am in the byelection to Rupauli Assembly seat in Bihar. In the four seats of West Bengal, a turnout of 24.25 per cent was registered till 11 am, an Election Commission official said. Ranaghat Dakshin (SC) saw the highest turnout with 26.32 per cent, followed by Raiganj at 25.98 per cent, Bagdah (SC) at 22.63 per cent and Maniktala at 21.89 per cent.

In Uttarakhand, a turnout of 26.99 per cent was recorded in Manglaur and 21.20 per cent in Badrinath till 11 am.

A turnout of 10.30 per cent was recorded till 9 am in the Jalandhar West assembly bypoll in Punjab.

The Assembly constituencies going to polls are Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagda and Maniktala in West Bengal; three seats in Himachal, including Dehra, Hamirpur, and Nalagarh; and Badrinath and Manglaur in Uttarakhand.

In Punjab, one constituency, Jalandhar West, is going to polls; in Bihar, it is the Rupauli seat; Vikravandi in Tamil Nadu, and Amarwara in Madhya Pradesh.

Four of these seven states are ruled by INDIA constituents, while the rest have a BJP or NDA government.

Voting started around 7 am, in Uttarakhand at 8 am and will continue till 6 pm.

West Bengal

For West Bengal, the stakes are high for both the ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP. The TMC improved its tally in the Lok Sabha polls to 29 of the state's 42 seats, up from 21 in 2019, while BJP's seats went down from 18 to 12.

The Trinamool won the Maniktala seat in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections while the BJP won Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin and Bagda. Later, the BJP MLAs switched to the Trinamool.

The Maniktala bypoll has been necessitated by the death of sitting Trinamool MLA Sadhan Pandey in February 2022.

Three of the four constituencies — Maniktala in Kolkata and Ranaghat Dakshin and Bagdah in North 24-Parganas — are in the southern part of the state.

The fourth, Raiganj, is 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.

Tamil Nadu

In Tamil Nadu, polling began for the by-election to Vikravandi assembly constituency with people arriving at polling stations enthusiastically from 7 am onwards to exercise their franchise.

The seat fell vacant following the death of DMK legislator N Pughazhendhi, who died due to illness on April 6.

A total of 29 candidates are in the fray, and there are 2.34 lakh voters, including 1.15 lakh men and 1.18 women voters in the constituency.

Tight security arrangements have been made at the polling booths in a triangular contest with ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's candidate Anniyur Siva (alias Sivashanmugam A) pitted against Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) C Anbumani and Naam Tamilar Katchi's K Abinaya.

The principal Opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and its ally Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) have decided to boycott the bypoll.

PMK, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) are determined to upset the ruling DMK’s prospects at the hustings.

Himachal Pradesh

The Sukhu government in Himachal had won the bypolls in four out of six Assembly seats held with the Lok Sabha elections. 

Bypolls are now being held for the seats of the three Independents who had resigned and joined the BJP after they had cross-voted in favour of the BJP nominee in the Rajya Sabha election.

Kamlesh Thakur, the wife of the chief minister is contesting in this bypoll. She told voters to vote for the Chief Minister and not the MLA.

"Now, Dehra will also become the constituency of the Chief Minister... I will not need to go to the Secretariat to get your work done, I will get it done from the chief minister at home," she had said while campaigning.

Rupauli bypoll

In Bihar, the by-election to the Rupauli Assembly seat was necessitated by the resignation of sitting MLA Bima Bharti, who won the seat for JD(U) several times but quit the party to contest Lok Sabha elections on an RJD ticket.

She lost her deposit in the parliamentary poll and is again in the fray for the bypoll as an RJD candidate.

The JD(U) has fielded Kaladhar Prasad Mandal, who had contested the 2020 Assembly polls from Rupauli as an Independent. Former MLA Shankar Singh, who had quit the LJP (Ram Vilas) headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan, is also in the fray as an Independent.

More than three lakh voters will decide the electoral fate of 11 candidates.

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 said.

It is a three-way 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. he BJP has never won the Muslim- and Dalit-dominated Manglaur seat, which has been held either by the Congress or the BSP so far. 

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.

Punjab

In Punjab, the bypoll in the Jalandhar West assembly segment is being seen as a test for Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. The AAP won only three of the state's 13 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. 

Votes for the bypolls will be counted on July 13.

(With agency inputs)