At a polling booth in Gomia, Jharkhand on Monday. (PTI)
Bypolls to four Lok Sabha and 10 Assembly seats Monday saw moderate to high voting. No major incident of violence was reported, but malfunction of VVPAT units delayed polling at several booths. Counting will be held on May 31.
UTTAR PRADESH
Lucknow: Bypolls to Kairana Lok Sabha seat and Noorpur Assembly seat recorded 54 and 61 per cent polling, respectively. Saharanpur divisional commissioner, Chandra Prakash Tripathi, said they were preparing a list of booths in Kairana where polling remained suspended for more than two hours due to snag in VVPAT units and that repoll will be held in these booths Wednesday. Engineers blamed heat for the snag, he said.
MAHARASHTRA
Mumbai: Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha seats recorded 46 and 38.7 per cent polling, respectively. While EC officials said VVPATs that developed snags were promptly replaced, the NCP, the Congress and the BJP’s bickering ally Shiv Sena said the ruling party was misusing voting units to swing polls. BJP spokesman Madhav Bhandari said, “It is unfortunate that Opposition is raising questions on EC.” Congress’s Vishwajeet Kadam was elected unopposed from Palus Kadegaon Assembly seat after all parties opted out of the contest.
NAGALAND
Kohima: By-election to Nagaland, the lone Parliamentary seat in the state, recorded a turnout of 70 per cent. The bypoll was necessitated after CM Neiphiu Rio, who is Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party leader, resigned as MP.
PUNJAB
Shahkot: Shahkot Assembly seat recorded 76.6 per cent polling. Former Punjab home minister Brij Bhupinder Singh Lalli, who recently joined Shiromani Akali Dal, was taken into custody after a licensed revolver was found on him while he was entering a booth. He was later released on bail.
BIHAR
Patna: Jokihat Assembly seat recorded 53 per cent polling and saw high turnout of women voters. RJD’s Shahnawaz Alam and JD (U)’s Murshid Alam are pitted against each other here.
KERALA
Alappuzha: Despite heavy rain, the Chengannur Assembly segment saw a high turnout of 74.60 per cent. Barring reports of technical snags in some booths, no untoward incident was reported.
JHARKHAND
Ranchi: Bypolls to Gomia and Silli Assembly seats recorded 62.61 per cent and 75.5 per cent polling. The bypolls were held following conviction of Gomia MLA Yogendra Mahto and Silli legislator Amit Mahto in separate cases.
KARNATAKA
Bengaluru: Bypoll to Rajarajeshwari Nagar Assembly sea saw 54 per cent turnout. The poll had been deferred due to electoral malpractices in which Congress candidate Munirathna is an accused.
UTTARAKHAND
Dehradun: Tharali Assembly seat recorded 53.43 per cent turnout. EC officials said the polling was peaceful. Bypoll to the reserved (SC) seat was necessitated by BJP MLA Magan Lal Shah’s death.
WEST BENGAL
Kolkata: Polling at Maheshtala Assembly seat concluded peacefully with 70 per cent voting till 5 pm. State Chief Electoral Officer Ariz Aftab said there were no reports of violence. “Some VVPAT machines malfunctioned and were replaced,” he told reporters.
MEGHALAYA
Shillong: Ampati bypoll saw a high turnout of 90.42 per cent. The by-election was necessitated by Leader of Opposition Mukul Sangma resigning from the seat after winning from Songsak in the Assembly polls.
(With inputs from PTI)