While the three Lok Sabha seats that went to polls on June 23 are in Uttar Pradesh (Rampur and Azamgarh) and Punjab (Sangrur), the seven assembly seats are spread across Tripura, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi
The counting of votes has begun for the three Lok Sabha seats and seven assembly seats spread across five states and Delhi, where voting for bypolls were held on June 23.
Counting of votes began at 8 am under multi-tier security cover, with postal ballots to be counted first and then EVMs to be opened.
While the three Lok Sabha seats that are up for grabs are in Uttar Pradesh (Rampur and Azamgarh) and Punjab (Sangrur), the seven assembly seats are spread across Tripura, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi.
Tripura, where the results today will also decide CM Manik Saha’s fate, has the highest number of four seats — Agartala, Jubarajnagar, Surma and Town Bardowali. Saha, who is contesting from Town Bardowali, needs to win this election to continue as the chief minister. He is a Rajya Sabha member who was sworn in last month after the then chief minister Biplab Deb’s sudden resignation.
LATEST UPDATES ON COUNTING OF VOTES FOR BYPOLLS:
Where were bypolls held:
Lok Sabha by-elections were held in Rampur and Azamgarh constituencies in Uttar Pradesh and Sangrur seat in Punjab. Meanwhile, in Tripura, assembly bypoll was held in Agartala, Jubarajnagar, Surma and Town Bardowali. Polling in Tripura on Thursday was the highest at 76.62 per cent.
The other constituencies where assembly bypolls were held were Rajinder Nagar in Delhi, Mandar in Jharkhand’s Ranchi district and Atmakuru in Andhra Pradesh.
Why were Lok Sabha bypolls necessitated
The bypolls in Uttar Pradesh were necessitated by resignations of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and party leader Azam Khan from Azamgarh and Rampur seats, respectively. Both leaders quit as Lok Sabha members following their election to the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly in the elections held earlier this year.
In Rampur, the BJP fielded Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi, who recently joined the party. Asim Raja, handpicked by Azam Khan is the SP candidate. The Mayawati-led BSP is not contesting from Rampur. The Azamgarh seat saw a triangular contest among BJP’s Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirhua’, a Bhojpuri actor-singer, SP’s Dharmendra Yadav and BSP’s Shah Alam, also known as Guddu Jamali.
In Sangrur, the bypoll was necessitated following the resignation of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann from the Lok Sabha after he was elected as an MLA in the state assembly elections earlier this year. Mann had won the Sangrur seat in the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections.
The AAP has fielded Gurmail Singh, the party’s Sangrur district in-charge; the main opposition Congress former Dhuri MLA Dalvir Singh Goldy, while the BJP candidate is former Barnala MLA Kewal Dhillon, who had joined the party on June 4. Kamaldeep Kaur, sister of Balwant Singh Rajoana, a convict in former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh’s assassination case, was fielded by the SAD.
About the assembly bypolls:
The bypoll in Delhi’s Rajinder Nagar was necessitated in the wake of AAP leader Raghav Chadha leaving the seat after being elected to the Rajya Sabha recently. In Rajinder Nagar, AAP’s Durgesh Pathak is likely to have a close contest with BJP’s Rajesh Bhatia, who had also been a councillor from the area. The Congress’ nominee is Prem Lata.
In Jharkhand’s Mandar, the bypoll was necessitated after three-term legislator and a former minister Bandhu Tirkey was convicted by a special CBI court in a disproportionate assets case.
The by-election in Andhra Pradesh is being held to fill the vacancy caused due to the death of Industries Minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy in February. His younger brother Vikram Reddy is the ruling YSR Congress candidate and he is locked in a contest with BJP’s G Bharat Kumar Yadav.
(With PTI inputs)
