- By James Kuanal
- Wed, 23 Oct 2019 11:55 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: Counting of votes for bypolls in 51 assembly constituencies and two Lok Sabha seats spread across 17 states and one Union Territory will be done on Thursday. The by-elections were held along with the assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana held on Monday.
By-polls were held on a total of 11 seats in Uttar Pradesh on October 21. Other states where by-elections were held include Gujarat (6 seats), Bihar and Kerela (5 seats each), Assam and Punjab (4 seats each), Sikkim (3 seats), Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu (2 seats each) The remaining states of Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya and Union Territory of Puducherry saw voting on one seat each.
Overall, 57 per cent of voter turnout was witnessed across these constituencies. The majority of these seats (30) are currently held by the BJP, 12 by Congress and others by regional parties. Let us have a look at these state constituencies in detail:
Uttar Pradesh:
Constituencies: Gangoh, Rampur, Islas, Lucknow Cantt., Govindnagar, Manikpur, Pratapgarh, Zaidpur, Jalalpur, Balha, Ghosi
In UP, eight out of these 11 seats were held by the BJP. The Pratapgarh seat is currently held by Apna Dal while Rampur and Jalalpur were under the regime of Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
The by-polls, though will not have bearing on the seat arithmetic in the state, will be a battle of prestige for the parties. They will be a litmus test for the Yogi Adityanath government which has recently completed 2.5 years of its term.
On the other hand, Congress will continue to retrace its lost ground in the state, which was once its stronghold. Uttar Pradesh witnessed the lowest voter turnout of 45.04 per cent on Monday.
Gujarat
Constituencies: Tharad, Kheralu, Amraiwadi, Lunawad, Radhanpur, Bayad
The western state of Gujarat witnessed just 50.35 per cent of votes in bypoll conducted on Monday.
Bypolls in six seats across Gujarat is viewed as a battle of prestige for CM Vijay Rupani who bagged all the 26 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Four of these six constituencies are currently held by the ruling party. In the rest of its assembly seats of Radhanpur and Bayad, the BJP has fielded Congress turncoats and former MLAs Dhavalsinh Zala and Alpesh Thakor.
Bihar
Constituencies: Kishanganj, Simri Bakhtiarpur, Daraunda, Nathnagar
By-polls in five assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seats in Bihar is being described as the semi-finals ahead of the 2020 assembly election in the north-eastern state.
Voting took place in Samastipur Lok Sabha. The bypolls become necessary after the death of Ramchandra Paswan (kin of Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan) of LJP. The main fight was between the ruling RJD party and JDU in Nathnagar constituency. The JDU fielded Lakshmikant Mandal who was up against RJD Rabiya Khatoon.
The state witnessed a voter turnout of 49.5 per cent. The polls were necessitated after the assembly seats fell vacant (barring Kishanganj) upon MLAs getting elected to the lower house of parliament.
Kerala
Constituencies: Manjeshwar, Ernakulam, Aroor, Konni, Vattiyoorkavu
Of the total five seats in Kerala Assembly, four of them at present are held by Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and one by CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front (LDF). The former is eyeing to win all these five seats while the BJP, which has just one seat in 140-member in Kerela is hoping to add to its tally.
Despite heavy rains in Ernakulum and Vattiyoorkavu constituency, they witnessed a voter turnout of 57.3 and 60.81 per cent.
Punjab
Constituencies: Phagwara, Mukerian, Dakha, Jalalabad
The main contest in Punjab bypoll is between Congress and Siromani Akali Dal (SAD-BJP) combine. One seat each is held by Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The SAD-BJP is contesting from Dakha and Jalalabad. For the ruling Congress, the bypoll is a litmus test for CM Amarinder Singh led government over the acceptability of policies and programs. On Monday, its constituencies witnessed a total voter turnout of 60.59 per cent.
Assam:
Constituencies: Ratabari, Jania, Rangapara, Sonari
The main contest in Assam's bypoll is between Congress and BJP. In the last election, three of these seats were won by BJP while Congress won the Jania Seat. The state witnessed a voter turnout of 74.14 per cent on October 21. The fate of 20 contestants will be decided on Thursday.
Sikkim
Constituencies: Poklok, Martam, Gangtok
The main contest will be between regional parties Hamro Sikkim Party (HSP) and Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM). Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) Sikkim Republican Party (SRP) will be also in the fray for the above seats. The total turnout in Sikkim was 69.55 per cent.
Himachal Pradesh
Constituencies: Dharamshala, Pachhad
In Dharamsala, there is a direct contest between BJP and Congress while in Pachhad (SC reserved) constituency there will be a triangular contest between BJP's Reena Kashyap, Gangu Ram Musafir of Congress and Independent leader Dayal Pyari. Dharamsala had witnessed a voter turnout of 64.63 per cent while Pacchad saw 71.64 voter turnout.
Rajasthan
Constituencies: Mandawa, Khinwsar
The fate of 12 candidates across Rajasthan will be decided in bypolls-- nine in Mandwa and three in Khivsar who are in the fray from these constituencies. The main contest is between the BJP, ruling Congress and RLP. The voter turnout of 64.99 per cent was recorded across its two constituencies on Monday.
Tamil Nadu
Constituencies: Vikravandi, Nanguneri
The main contest in Tamil Nadu bypoll is between two Dravidian parties AIADMK and DMK. In the 234-member assembly, AIADMK has 123 seats while DMK has 100 seats. Congress also has an outside chance to win these two seats. The total turnout in Tamil Nadu bypoll was 68.87 per cent.
Others
Besides the above states, the bypoll were also conducted for one each constituency in states of Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Puducherry, Telangana, Maharashtra. The states had seen a fair number of voter turnout with Arunachal topping the list with 90 per cent among voter turnout.
Note: This is the first bypoll after the conclusion of the 2019 Lok Sabha Election that saw BJP form the government in the centre after bagging 303 seats of 543 seats.
