High voter turnout in Kerala, Tripura, W Bengal seats in Assembly bypolls
In Dhupguri in West Bengal and Puthuppally in Kerala, where the INDIA bloc constituents were up against each other, the voting was around 76 per cent and nearly 73 per cent respectively.
LUCKNOW/AGARTALA: High voter turnout was recorded in most of the seven assembly constituencies in six states where the by-election was held on Tuesday.
The counting of votes is on September 8 for the by-election – seen as a litmus test for the opposition alliance INDIA against the BJP-led NDA ahead of the assembly polls in five states later this year and the 2023 Lok Sabha election.
In Dhanpur and Boxanagar seats in Tripura, where the Congress had extended support to the CPI(M), the average turnout was around 76 per cent.
Six persons were injured in a stray incident of violence in the northeastern state.
In Dhupguri in West Bengal and Puthuppally in Kerala, where the INDIA bloc constituents were up against each other, the voting was around 76 per cent and nearly 73 per cent respectively.
The by-election saw the INDIA alliance also putting up a united front in the Ghosi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, where the voting was moderate at around 50.30 per cent, and in Jharkhand’s Dumri where a total of 64.84 per cent of 2.98 lakh voters exercised their franchise Uttarakhand’s Bageshwar, where the main contest is between the BJP and the Congress, saw 55.44 per cent voting.
Out of the seven seats, three (Dhanpur, Bageshwar and Dhupguri), were held by the BJP and one each by the SP (Ghosi), CPI(M) (Boxanagar), JMM (Dumri) and the Congress (Puthuppally).
In Uttar Pradesh, the Ghosi seat fell vacant after the resignation of Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA and OBC leader Dara Singh Chauhan, who rejoined the BJP.
While the ruling BJP-led NDA has fielded Chauhan, Samajwadi Party candidate Sudhakar Singh has got the support of the Congress and Left parties.
Chauhan was a minister in the previous BJP government headed by Yogi Adityanath.
He resigned from the Council of Ministers on January 12, 2022 and switched to the SP.
The Akhilesh Yadav-led party has alleged misuse of official machinery and has written to the Election Commission on the matter.
It claimed that Muslim voters were being prevented from exercising their franchise in some places.
Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak rejected the SP’s allegations, claiming that the opposition party was fearing defeat in the bypoll.
The Dhupguri assembly constituency in north Bengal witnessed a three-cornered contest among the TMC, BJP and the Congress-supported CPI(M).
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