Voting for the by-polls kicks of in various states

Polling begins in Hamirpur Assembly bypoll in UP

Lucknow: Polling for Hamirpur Assembly bypoll in Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh commenced at 0700 hours on Monday under tight security arrangements.Ajay Kumar Shukla, Chief Electoral Officer of UP said that polling has started under elaborate security arrangements for the free and fair conduct of the bypoll in Hamirpur .       

Polling will be held from 0700 hrs to 1800 hrs, while counting of votes will take place on September 27, Mr Shukla said.

Total nine candidates are in the poll fray. Prominent among them are Yuwraj Singh (BJP), Hardeepak Nishad (Congress), Manoj Kumar Prajapati (SP), Naushad Ali (BSP) and Jamal Alam Mansoori (Communist Party of India).

The by-election, the first to be held after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, has been necessitated due to the disqualification of sitting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ashok Kumar Singh Chandel following his conviction in a murder case.

Hamirpur assembly seat, which has been hit by floods, given a new facility to the voters by the Election Commission that electorate can cast their votes through Quick Reaction(QR) code slip issued by the authorities.

This system is being introduced for the first time as a pilot project in 5 booths of the seat.

Chief Electoral Officer, Mr Shukla said,"572 EVM, 572 ballot unit and 619 VVPAT machines will be used in the elections. There are total 4.01 lakh voters in Hamirpur assembly seat which includes 2.20 lakh male and 1.81 lakh female."

"A total of 257 polling stations and 476 polling booth have been set up in the constituency and provision of web casting has been made at 52 polling booths," he added.

The Election commission for keeping vigil on the election has deployed one general observer and one expenditure observer for the bypoll. Besides this 36 sector magistrates, 4 zonal magistrates and 35 micro observers have also deployed for the free fair and peaceful conduct of the polling, Mr Shukla said.The CEO said 2,096 state employees have been deployed on election duty for the polling.

Polling begins smoothly in Pala Assembly bypoll

Kottayam: About 15 per cent of voters exercised their franchise at the Pala Assembly bypoll, where polling commenced smoothly from 0700 hrs on Monday.The Pala by-election, second time this year was necessitated following the demise of former finance minister K M Mani who held the constituency for over five decades.

Kerala Congress (M) leader Jose K Mani MP, United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate Jose Tom Pulikkunnel and Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate Mani C Kappan were among those who had cast their votes.

The mock poll to ensure proper functioning of electronic voting machines began at 0600 hrs and the results were erased and the machines kept for actual election.All voters who remain in the queue till 1800 hrs will be allowed to cast their votes.The constituency is witnessing a close two cornered race between UDF and LDF.

The bitter election campaign had seen political parties raising various issues like corruption, economic slow down, crisis in agricultural sector and Sabarimala women's entry row.

UDF counts on riding on the waves of sympathy for late K M Mani and the anti-incumbency factor against LDF.

LDF looks to buck the trend by making the most of the factional strife within Kerala Congress.NDA hopes to turn the tide in its favour on the welfare schemes introduced by its government at the centre.(UNI)

 Tripura by-poll begins amid threat & intimidation

Agartala:Amid alleged threat and intimidation on opposition voters, polling in Badharghat by-poll of the city has registered 28 percent voting in first two hours across 71 polling stations and there is no report of violence so far, said election officials here.

According to report, a large number of paramilitary personnel have been deployed in the constituency after district magistrate promulgated 144 of CrPC yesterday. All the polling booths are equipped with central paramilitary personnel and Tripura State Rifles (TSR) jawans while state police were engaged outside of the polling stations for patrolling.

The election commission has taken extra measure following attack on CPI (M) supporters' yesterday morning during silent campaign near Agartala Railway station area. Both CPI (M) and Congress had protested the incident and alleged that police did not take any action against the perpetrators rather threatened the opposition to withdraw agitation.

"There was continuous threat from BJP workers in the areas since last evening. The opposition voters have been stopped on their way to polling booths and sent them back with warning of dare consequences. The opposition polling agents were forced to come out from most of the booths within an hour of beginning of the elections," alleged CPI (M) candidate Bulti Biswas.

Meanwhile, BJP candidate Mimi Majumdar denied the allegation and said, "Congress and CPI (M) united together against BJP and raising false allegations against the ruling party, as they know the fate of the elections. People of the state had been suffered for 25 years of communist misrule with the support of Congress and now also they are trying to mislead the common people."

She however, claimed that there is no tension at all and in few places opposition workersattempted to trigger the situation with instigating remarks against BJP but it did not work and added, "BJP workers have been advised not to fall prey into any instigation and indulged into violence."

As many as 57,906 electorates including 28,508 female are expected to exercise theirfranchise to decide fate of four candidates contesting in SC reserved Badharghat constituency. 

Headmistress of government higher secondary school Mimi Majumdar is contesting the election for BJP while CPI (M) councilor of Agartala Municipal Corporation Bulti Biswas, senior congress leader Ratan Das and Mridul Kanti Sarkar of SUCI are in the fray.

The Badharghat assembly constituency had been a strong bastion of Congress. In the three consecutive elections Dilip Sarkar had won the seat in 2008 and 2013 as congress nominee and in 2018 as BJP candidate by a big margin of 5448 votes. But Sarkar's premature death after long sufferings in April this year has left a big void for Congress.(UNI)