Assembly bypolls results to be declared today: Counting begins in Panaji, Valpoi, Bawana, Nandyal

The results of by-elections to four Assembly seats in three states is expected to be announced on Monday, which will decide the fate of those who contested for the Nandyal constituency of Andhra Pradesh, two seats in Goa, and Delhi’s Bawana seat. According to Zee News, the counting of votes, which was to start from 8 am on Monday, has begun. The results will be declared within three hours. The focus on Monday’s results is on the high-stakes Bawana by-election in Delhi, and crucial Panaji bypolls in Goa. The result of Panaji seat will seal the deal for Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar and Vishwajit Rane, a former Congress leader who is now a minister in the state Cabinet. Political observers believe that the two BJP ministers hold a clear advantage over their Congress rivals. [caption id=“attachment_3911953” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] While Girish Chodankar of the Congress and Anand Shirodkar of the Goa Suraksha Manch are the other significant candidates in the Panaji bypoll, in Valpoi, Rane’s key opponent is Roy Naik of the Congress. The bypoll in Panaji was necessitated after former Defence Minister Parrikar’s return to state politics in March this year, as Chief Minister. The Delhi bypoll result will decide the fate of candidates of the three major political parties — the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the BJP and the Congress, all of whom have exuded confidence about winning the Assembly seat reserved for the SC category. Eight candidates are in the fray but essentially the AAP, the BJP and the Congress are locked in a triangular contest. In the 70-member Delhi Assembly, the AAP has 65 MLAs and the BJP four, while the Congress is hoping to open its account in the House by winning this seat. For the Bawana bypoll, the BJP has fielded Ved Prakash who had won from the constituency in the 2015 elections as an AAP candidate. He had resigned from Assembly membership and joined the BJP in March this year, necessitating the bypoll. The AAP’s candidate is Ram Chandra, while the Congress has placed its bet on former three-time MLA from Bawana, Surendra Kumar. Meanwhile, the Nandyal Assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh has become a battle of prestige for TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and YSRC head Jagan Mohan Reddy. The by-election in the constituency was held following the death of sitting MLA Bhuma Nagi Reddy in March. Reddy had won the seat in 2014 as YSR Congress candidate, but jumped over to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 2016. Though there are 15 candidates in the fray, the main fight is between the TDP and the YSRC. The by-elections for the four seats were held on 23 August. While a turnout of about 80 percent was recorded in Nandyal, polling for the by-election for Bawana constituency, one of the largest in Delhi in terms of number of electors, saw 45 percent voter turnout, much lower than during the 2015 Assembly elections which had recorded 61.83 polling. Nearly 75 percent polling was recorded during Goa bypolls in Panaji and Valpoi Assembly constituency. There are 2.94 lakh voters in Bawana, including 1,64,114 males, 1,30,143 females and 25 third gender voters. Voting was held in 379 polling stations across the Assembly constituency. For the first time, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) was used in the by-election in Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Goa. According to officials, an EVM and 17 VVPAT devices had malfunctioned during polling, and were replaced without any hindrance to voting. The officials had conjectured that multiple elections taking place in the city in quick succession could be a factor for the low turnout in Bawana, adding that voter turnout is “generally low” in bypolls. With inputs from agencies