Voting is underway on Thursday in the by-election to seven assembly constituencies in six states - a contest symbolic of the fierce turf war between the Bharatiya Janata Party and regional parties. The polling is being held in Mokama and Gopalganj assembly constituencies of Bihar, Andheri (East) of Maharashtra, Adampur of Haryana, Munugode of Telangana, Gola Gorakhnath of Uttar Pradesh, and Dhamnagar of Odisha. Among the seven seats where bypolls are being held, the BJP held three seats, the Congress two while the Shiv Sena and the RJD had one each.
While a victory in the bypolls will be inconsequential to their position in the assemblies, the parties have not taken the contest lightly and carried out a high-pitched campaign.
The counting of votes will take place on November 6.
Here are the highlights
Haryana: A turnout of nearly 70 percent was recorded an hour before deadline in Haryana's Adampur Assembly segment where by-elections are underway on Thursday, news agency PTI reported.
Telangana: Munugode assembly reported a turnout of 77.55 percent till 5 pm for the by-elections.
Haryana: In the Adampur assembly, 55 percent voter turnout was recorded three hours prior to the deadline.
Bihar: Odisha: A total 52.13 percent of votes were cast till 3 pm in the Dhamnagar assembly by-poll. Polling was marred by clashes between BJD and BJP and allegations of rigging were brought by the saffron party.
Bihar: A voter turnout of 31.90 percent was recorded till 1 pm in Mokama and Gopalganj assembly constituencies in Bihar. While Mokama recorded 34.26 percent voter turnout, Gopalganj saw 29.90 percent turnout till 1 pm.
Uttar Pradesh: A voter turnout of over 33 percent has been recorded till 1 PM in the Gola Gokarannath assembly constituency.
# Telangana: Over 25 percent polling was reported till 11 AM in the by-poll to the Munugode Assembly constituency.
# Odisha: A total 22.36 percent of votes were cast till 11 am in the Dhamnagar assembly seat.
# Haryana: Voter turnout of 22.51 percent was recorded till 11 am in the Adampur Assembly segment.
# Bihar: A voter turnout of 24.17 percent was recorded till 11 am in Mokama and Gopalganj assembly constituencies in Bihar where polling was underway for by-elections on Thursday, officials said. While Mokama recorded 27.30 percent voter turnout, Gopalganj saw 21.76 percent turnout till 11 am, they said.
# Telangana: TRS candidate Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy (in pic 1), BJP candidate Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy (in pic 2) and Congress candidate Palvai Sravanthi (pic 3) cast their votes for Munugodu bypoll.
# Uttar Pradesh: A voter turnout of over 10 percent has been recorded in the first two hours of polling in Gola Gokarannath constituency. "The polling is going on peacefully. In the initial two hours, over 10 percent votes were polled", a senior official said.
# Odisha: People cast their votes for the Dhamnagar bypoll.
# Maharashtra: People queue up to cast their votes for Andheri East bypoll.
# Uttar Pradesh: People cast their votes at Guru Nanak Girls Inter College polling booth for Gola Gokarannath by-election.
# Haryana: In Adampur, the by-election was necessitated after Kuldeep Bishnoi resigned as MLA from the seat and switched from the Congress to the BJP in August. Bishnoi's son Bhavya is now contesting as the BJP candidate.
# Bihar: The state will see the first electoral test for the Nitish Kumar-led 'Mahagathbandhan' government, formed less than three months ago after the JD(U) parted ways with the BJP. Bypolls are being held in Mokama and Gopalganj seats in Bihar, earlier held by the RJD and the BJP respectively.
# Maharashtra: Shiv Sena's Rutuja Latke is expected to comfortably win Andheri East Assembly constituency in Mumbai after the BJP withdrew from the contest. The by-election was necessitated due to the death of Rutuja Latke's husband and Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May this year.
# Uttar Pradesh: The Gola Gorakhnath seat fell vacant after the death of BJP MLA Arvind Giri on September 6. The BJP has fielded Aman Giri, son of Arvind Giri, while the SP candidate is former Gola MLA Vinay Tiwari.
# Odisha: The BJD has fielded Abanti Das in Dhamnagar. BJP MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi's death necessitated the bypoll.
# Telangana: The bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of sitting Congress MLA Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy from the party from his post in August. He has joined the BJP and is seeking re-election.
First Published: Nov 3, 2022 9:25 AM IST
