 "By-election 2019 Voting Updates: Polling concludes in 51 seats across 18 states; Arunachal Pradesh's Khonsa West records highest turnout at 90.74%")
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By-election polling updates: Voting for bypolls in 51 Assembly constituencies across 18 states concluded at 6 pm. While Arunachal Pradesh’s Khonsa West Assembly constituency recorded highest turnout at 90.74 percent, Uttar Pradesh recorded the lowest at 44.71 percent. The Uttar Pradesh Election Commission issued a statement saying that no incidents of booth capturing, impersonation or bogus voting were reported till 5 pm across 11 Assembly seats in the state. The average polling percentage stood at 44.71 percent till 5.30 pm. Of the five Assembly seats in Kerala, Konni recorded the highest polling at 64.6 percent while Ernakulum recorded the lowest at 40.3 percent till 5 pm. Manjeshwar recorded 50.2 percent polling, Vattiyoorkavu 51.4 percent and Aroor 64.7 percent. The average voter turnout in Kerala stood out at 54 percent. In the by polls for the Samastipur Lok Sabha Assembly seat in Bihar 38 percent voter turnout was recorded till 4 pm while the voter turnout for the Satara Lok Sabha in Maharashtra was 48.4 percent. While the bypoll in Samastipur has been necessitated by the recent death of sitting Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) MP Ramchandra Paswan, younger brother of the party’s founding president, the Satara bypoll was necessitated as NCP member Udayanraje Bhosale joined the BJP. The Khonsa West Assembly constituency in Arunachal Pradesh recorded a high turnout of 89.27 percent at 4 pm while the average turnout in Uttar Pradesh across 11 seats continued at 36.9 percent at 4 pm. Khonsa West Assembly seat in Arunachal Pradesh is witnessing a straight contest between two Independent candidates - Chakat Aboh and Azet Hamtok. The polling will continue till 6 pm. The votes will be counted on 24 October. The voter turnout for the Gangoh seat in Uttar Pradesh stood at 50.5 percent at 3.30 pm while Lucknow Cantt recorded lowest voter turnout at 21.85 percent. The average voter turnout in Uttar Pradesh was 36.9 percent.The bypolls were necessitated after some MLAs won the Lok Sabha elections and resigned as members of the state Assembly. The assembly constituency of Ghosi became vacant following the resignation of sitting MLA Phagu Chauhan after he was appointed as the Governor of Bihar. The voter turnout for the Huzurnagar seat in Telangana stood at 52.89 percent at 2:30 pm. The Huzurnagar by-election was necessitated after sitting MLA and Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N Uttam Kumar Reddy resigned as he successfully contested and won from the Nalgonda parliamentary seat during the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The Nathnagar Assembly seat in Bihar, which fell vacant after JD(U)’s MLA Ajay Mandal got elected to the Lok Sabha, will see a tough fight between the incumbent party and the RJD. The JD(U), who is in possession of the seat currently, has fielded Lakshmikant Mandal, a former colleague of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. RJD has fielded Rabiya Khatoon from this seat, whereas Hindustani Awam Morcha, a partner of the RJD in the Mahagathbandhan has given the ticket to Ajay Roy. According to sources, Mandal was keen on getting a ticket for a family member but JD(U) denied the request. As a result of which, Mandal is not showing any enthusiasm for the election, which is likey to damage JD(U)’s prospects. Since Nathnagar has a history of polarised voting, RJD is eyeing the Muslims and Yadav votes but that may not work as maximum Muslim voters reside in different states. Average poll percentage stands at 28.98 percent in Uttar Pradesh across 11 Assembly constituency seats. Gangoh leads with 41.7 percent. Bypolls in Tamil Nadu’s two Assembly seats, Nanguneri and Vikravandi record 41.35 percent and at 54.17 percent by 1 pm repectively. Vikravandi was necessitated following the death of DMK legislator K.Rathamani in June, while the Nanguneri seat fell vacant as Congress legislator H Vasantha Kumar resigned after he got elector for the Lok Sabha. A total of 23 candidates are in the fray in Vikravandi seeking the favour of about 2.24 lakh voters. Gangoh sees highest voter turnout of 30.40% at 12 am, Manikpur at 18.70% across 11 constituency Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh. The average polling percent in Uttar Pradesh till 11 am stands at 19.34 percent across 11 constituencies. About 24 percent polling was recorded till 11:30 am for the two Assembly seats: Dharamshala and Pachhadin in Himachal Pradesh. The bypolls to the two Assembly segments are considered a test for Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur as the ruling BJP looks to not only retain the seats but also increase the margin. The opposition Congress is hopeful to win the two seats.
In the last Assembly elections held in December two years ago, Suresh Kashyap (30,243 votes) defeated his nearest rival former minister Musafir with a margin of 6,427 votes in Pachhad.
In Dharamshala, the victory margin of the BJP’s Kishan Kapoor over Sudhir Sharma of the Congress was of 2,997 votes in 2017
Only 12 votes have been cast at the Gaurela village in Chitrakot in Chhattisgarh. The villagers have announced a boycott call over non-development of their village. Six candidates are in fray from the seat, reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates, where the byelection was necessitated after Congress MLA Deepak Baij got elected to the Lok Sabha from Bastar parliamentary constituency. The main contest is between the Congress and BJP. The Congress has fielded a new face, Rajman Benzam, local tribal leader and president of the Bastar district Congress (rural), while the BJP has given ticket to former MLA Lachhuram Kashyap. Besides, Bomda Mandavi of the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J), Hidmo Ram Mandavi of the Communist Party of India (CPI), Lakheshwar Kawasi of the Ambedkarite Party of India and Independent Ritika Karma are also in the fray. The average polling percent in Uttar Pradesh till 11 am stands at 19.34 percent across 11 constituencies. Gangoh records the highest voter turn out with 30.40 percent and Govindnagar the lowest with 9.40 percent. The Assembly bypolls were necessitated after some MLAs won the Lok Sabha elections and resigned as members of the state Assembly. Ghosi Assembly seat fell vacant following the resignation of MLA Phagu Chauhan after he was appointed the Governor of Bihar. Of the 11 seats, eight were held earlier by the BJP. Pratapgarh was represented by BJP-ally Apna Dal (Sonelal). The seats of Rampur and Jalalpur (Ambedkarnagar) were held by the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, respectively. Kerala is currently holding bypolls in five Assembly seats. The voter turn out of these seats by 11 am are: Manjeshwar with 20.39 percent, Eranakulam with 5.30 percent, Aroor with 9.66 percent, Konni with 19.81 percent and Vattiyoorkavu with 9.10 percent Three Block Level officers (BLO) were taken in custody by sub-divisional magistrate of Aligarh, regarding the distribution of slips (Kacchi Parchi) by the political parties and allowing people to enter the premise to vote. Issue of stray cows turns out to be a reason of poll boycott in Mahua village of Iglas, Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh. Election officials are on their toes convincing the voters to go and cast their votes. The administration has assured the villagers that their problem will be solved to keep voters to continue polling. Puducherry has recorded 11.60 percent voter turn out by 10 am on Monday Samastipur (Parliamentary) Lok Sabha seat in Bihar has recorded 11 percent voter turn out by 10 am on Monday. Meanwhile, the five Assembly seats have recorded: Kishanganj with 14.5 percent, Simari Bakhtiyarpur with 13.1 percent, Daraunda 10.25 percent, Nathnagar 11.5 percent, Belhar 14 percent. About half a dozen villages in Iglas, Aligarh district in Uttar Pradesh have boycotted the voting saying that there is no use of exercising the franchise as no development work has been done in their area despite making several requests to the administration and representatives. Average polling percentage stand at 8.43 percent in Uttar Pradesh. No reports of violence, bogus voting, booth capturing reported so far. The maximum numbers of seats going to bypolls are in Uttar Pradesh where voters will be choosing their MLA on 11 seats. These seats are Pratapgarh, Zaidpur (SC), Balha (SC), Rampur, Iglas (SC), Lucknow Cantonment, Manikpur, Jalalpur, Ghosi, Gangoh, and Govind Nagar. Currently, polling across most constituencies are going on peacefully. EVMs at booth number 61 and 62 have developed snag since more than one and a half-hour in Chitrakoot. Voters have started to return. Polling began at 8 am and will end at 5 pm, an election official said. A total of 229 polling booths have been set up for the by-poll in Bastar district and 16 in the neighbouring Sukma district, he said. As many as 916 polling personnel have been deployed at these booths, he said, adding that around 70 booths have been categorised as ‘hyper-sensitive’ and 93 as ‘sensitive’. As many as 1,67,911 people, including 79,284 men, 88,626 men and one from the third gender, are eligible to cast their votes, he added. In the by-election going on at Chitrakot constituency of Chhattisgarh, the Election Commission has also shifted five polling booths to a nearby booth as they were placed at the remote and sensitive area. This constituency falls under sensitive region due to Naxal activity. The EC has declared 54 polling stations as highly-sensitive and 93 as sensitive out of the 229 total polling stations. Political parties of Bihar have chosen kins to contest in bypoll for the five assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat in Bihar. At least four candidates from the ruling party JDU, LJP and opposition party Congress has fielded kins of politicians. Congress has fielded Sayeeda Banu, mother of Dr Javed who had won Kishanganj Lok Sabha seat in 2019 general election. Though Dr Javed’s father has been in politics for a long time. The JD(U) has given ticket to Laldhari Yadav from Belhar Assembly which falls under Banka district. Laldhari Yadav, brother of Giridhari Yadav, who got election to Lok Sabha in 2019 general election. Ajay Singh contesting on the ticket of JDU from Daraundha Assembly constituency. The seat fell vacant after Ajay’s wife Kavita Singh made it to the Lok Sabha on a JD(U) ticket from Siwan. Similarly, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) has given ticket to Prince Raj, son of Ramchandra Paswan. Ramchandra Paswan had won Samastipur Lok Sabha constituency recently concluded general election. The seat fell vacant due to sudden demise of Ramchandra Paswan. Voting at booth number 225 Ghosi assembly constituency, has been halted from last 40 minutes owing to EVM glitch. New machine has been requested. Chandal polling station under Belhar constituency witnessed a little delay in polling owing to rain. This area falls in Banka district of Bihar. According to authorities, it is a naxal-affected area and so the polling will take place till 4 pm only. Not even a single voter has turned up to exercise his/her franchise in the posh Dilkusha area of Lucknow. The polling was started half an hour ago. In such case the election officials are bound to go and convince the voters to come out and vote. Voting across 18 states for 51 Assembly, two Lok Sabha seats begins. Along with the polling in two Legislative Assemblies of Haryana and Maharashtra, voting for by-elections to 64 Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha constituency spread across 18 states will be held on 21 October 2019 (Monday). According to the Election Commission, voting for these seats will begin at 7 am on 21 October 2019 in the respective polling booths. While Assembly bypolls will be held on 64 Assembly seats, the Samastipur Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar will also have a bypoll. These Assembly seats include 15 in Karnataka and 11 in Uttar Pradesh. While announcing the poll schedule for Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly polls, the Election Commission of India announced dates for bypolls in 64 Assembly seats and a Lok Sabha seat. Subsequently, it added two more Assembly bypolls in Gujarat and Maharashtra’s Satara Lok Sabha seat to the list. **Click here for detailed coverage of Assembly Elections 2019** The 11 Uttar Pradesh Assembly seats mostly belong to MLAs who lost the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections and had to resign as MLAs. The Samastipur (Bihar) Lok Sabha by-election was necessitated after the death of sitting MP Ram Chandra Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party in July.
Here’s a list of Assembly by-election seats scheduled to go to polls on 21 October, sorted by states:
Arunachal Pradesh (1) Khonsa Assam (4) Ratabari Jania Rangapara Sonari Bihar (5) Kishanganj Simri Bakhtiarpur Daraunda Nathnagar Belhar Chhattisgarh (1) Chitrakot Gujarat (6) Tharad Kheralu Amraiwadi Lunawad Radhanpur Bayad Himachal Pradesh (2) Dharamshala Pachhad Kerala (5) Manjeshwar Ernakulam Aroor Konni Vattiyoorkavu Madhya Pradesh (1) Jhabua Meghalaya (1) Shella Odisha (1) Bijepur Puducherry (1) Kamraj Nagar Punjab (4) Phagwara Mukerian Dakha Jalalabad Rajasthan (2) Mandawa Khinwsar Sikkim (3) Poklok Martam Gangtok Tamil Nadu (2) Vikravandi Nanguneri Telangana (1) Huzurnagar Uttar Pradesh (11) Gangoh Rampur Islas Lucknow Cantt. Govindnagar Manikpur Pratapgarh Zaidpur Jalalpur Balha Ghosi
Lok Sabha bypolls will be held in:
Samastipur, Bihar Satara, Maharashtra
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