Counting of votes for by-elections in 13 states and one union territory began at 8 am today. (Representative)
New Delhi:
Counting of votes will begin at 8 am for three Lok Sabha and 29 assembly seats in 13 states and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Of the 29 seats, the BJP had six, the Congress nine. The rest were with regional parties.
Here are the ten points of this big story:
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The assembly bypolls – held on October 30 – went to polls for five seats in Assam, four in Bengal, three each in Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, two each in Bihar, Karnataka and Rajasthan and one each in Andhra. State, Haryana, Maharashtra, Mizoram and Telangana.
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The Lok Sabha seats for which by-elections were held include Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Mandi in Himachal Pradesh and Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh. The incumbent members had died in all three constituencies.
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Prominent leaders who contested the elections are INLD leader Abhay Chautala, who left the Haryana Assembly to protest the Centre’s new agricultural laws, Congress’s Pratibha Singh, wife of late Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, former national footballer Eugeneson Lyngdoh and former Telangana minister. Atala Rajender.
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In Mandi, Pratibha Singh is contesting against BJP candidate Khushal Singh Thakur, a Kargil war hero. Kalaben Delkar, wife of seven-time Independent MP from Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Mohan Delkar, is contesting as a Shiv Sena candidate against Mahesh Gavit of the BJP and Mahesh Dhodi of the Congress.
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INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala’s son Abhay Chautala is contesting against Congress’ Pawan Beniwal and Haryana Lokhit Party chief and brother of MLA Gopal Kanda against BJP-JP candidate Gobind Kanda. Ellenabad is the family ground of the Chautals, which was once in the possession of Om Prakash Chautala. Abhay Chautala has been in this seat since 2010.
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In Meghalaya, former footballer Eugenesson Lyngdoh is contesting on United Democratic Party ticket against former Congress MLA Kennedy C Khareem from Mawphlang and Lamprang Blah, a sitting member of the NPP’s Zilla Parishad.
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In Bengal, the Dinhata and Shantipur bypolls are being seen as a prestige battle for the BJP, which is currently battling an exodus of MLAs and senior leaders. Udayan Guha of the ruling Trinamool Congress is looking to re-capture the Dinhata seat. Nisith Pramanik, the winner, resigned after taking over as the junior home minister at the Centre. BJP MP Jagannath Sarkar resigned from the assembly in Shantipur.
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In Telangana, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the opposition BJP and the Congress are battling for the Huzurabad assembly constituency, where sitting MLA Eatala Rajender stepped down following allegations of land grabbing. Mr. Rajendra, who has denied the allegations, has quit the TRS and is contesting on a BJP ticket.
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The ruling BJP in Assam has fielded candidates in three seats and has left alliance partner UPPL in the other two seats. Congress has fielded candidates on all five seats. Its former allies AIUDF and BPF are contesting on two seats and one each.
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In Karnataka, the bypolls to Sindgi and Hangal will be the first electoral test for Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who replaced BS Yediyurappa. The elections in Rajasthan’s Vallabhnagar and Dhariyawad will be a referendum on the performance of the Ashok Gehlot government, which faced a challenge last year from the Sachin Pilot-led Congress faction.
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