Uttar Pradesh and Bihar bypolls: People wait in a queue to cast their vote in Bihar's Bhabhua
Here are the live updates of the bypolls in Gorakhpur, Phulpur, Araria and two Bihar assembly seats:
"We are very much sure that this time SP and BSP will not be able to stop the winning track of BJP in UP. They have ministers who can only pass comments and can't do anything else. We will win with full majority."
Keshav Prasad Maurya, deputy chief minister, Uttar Pradesh
"I always vote early in the morning. I am not worried at all. I still maintain that the SP-BSP alliance is an opportunistic one. Their alliance is bound to fail. Our victory margins will be as big as in 2014," Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath told NDTV.
"BJP will win both the bypolls (Gorakhpur and Phulpur) with massive majority and on the basis of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governance of development. The 2019 election results will also be good for the BJP."
Yogi Adityanath, chief minister, Uttar Pradesh
In Bihar's Araria, a complaint has been filed against Bihar BJP president Nityanand Rai for allegedly violating the model code of conduct. New agency ANI reported that Mr Rai allegedly said, "If Sarfaraz Alam (RJD candidate) wins the bypoll, then Araria will become hub of ISI."
After casting his vote in the Gorakhpur by-election, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said, "For development and good governance, BJP is necessary." Bypolls in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur and Phulpur, vacated by Mr Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya, respectively, are seen as a prestige battle for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Bhabua assembly seat in Bihar was vacated after the death of the BJP's Anand Bhushan Pandey. The BJP-JD(U) ruling alliance has fielded his widow Rinki Rani Pandey and hopes to win the seat that has a big chunk of Dalits voters. The Congress has put up Shambhu Patel, banking on the popularity of former Lok Sabha speaker and Dalit leader Meira Kumar, who has earlier represented Sasaram, the parliamentary constituency of which Bhabua is an assembly segment.
In Bihar's Jehanabad, where the assembly by-election is taking place due to the death of RJD lawmaker Mundrika Singh Yadav, the RJD has fielded his son Uday Yadav. He is in a direct contest with the JD(U)'s Abhiram Sharma who had won the seat in 2010 when his party was an ally of the BJP.
Yogi Adityanath represented the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat five times in a row till he was made the chief minister last year after the BJP swept the assembly polls. That win came three years after the BJP won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2014, riding on the "Modi wave". This time, the chief minister has campaigned extensively for BJP's Upendra Dutt Shukla who is the party's regional head.
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