NEW DELHI: The bypoll for seven assembly seats in five states — Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Kerala, Tripura, West Bengal and Jharkhand — passed off peacefully on Tuesday. The high-pitched battle, ahead of the next general elections between the BJP-led NDA and the opposition bloc INDIA, is keenly watched as the results are likely to have a bearing on the general elections in 2024.
The bypoll was held for two seats, namely Boxanagar and Dhanpur, in BJP-ruled Tripura. Nearly 87 per cent voter turnout was recorded till the end of polling, an official said. Polling was largely peaceful, barring an incident near the Mohanbhog sub-zonal office under the Dhanpur constituency where six youths were injured, officials said.
Villagers set fire to five motorcycles, triggering tension, but the situation was brought under control, PTI reported quoting a police officer. The by-election in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghosi saw the INDIA alliance putting up a united front. Voting was moderate at around 50.30 per cent. Around 50 per cent of polling was registered in the Ghosi seat, which is witnessing a direct contest between BJP’s Dara Singh Chouhan and SP’s Sudharkar Singh.
In Uttarakhand, more than 55 per cent of the electorate cast their votes to seal the fate of five candidates in the fray for the Bageshwar assembly seat. Polling was peaceful with no untoward incidents reported from anywhere. A total of 64.84 per cent of 2.98 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the by-election to Dumri assembly seat in Jharkhand, said an Election Commission official.
The polling percentage was slightly less than in 2019 when 69.74 per cent of the electorate cast their votes in the constituency. The election passed off peacefully across 199 polling booths in Giridih and 174 booths in Bokaro districts. The BSP has kept itself away from the poll and altogether 10 candidates were in the fray. In Kerala’s Puthuppally constituency, voters turned up in large numbers.
Within the first four hours of voting, there was a turnout of more than 50.6 per cent. The UDF level alleged that there was slow polling in some select booths and people had to wait for several hours to vote. LDF candidate Jaick C Thomas said if there has been any delay in the polling process in some booths then it should be investigated.
Dhupguri assembly seat in West Bengal went to polls, which was necessitated by the death of its sitting BJP MLA Bishu Pada Ray. CPI(M)’s Ishwar Chandra Roy is contesting as the candidate of the Congress-Left alliance, while the ruling TMC has fielded Nirmal Chandra Roy, a teacher by profession. The BJP has nominated Tapasi Roy for the seat. Roy is the widow of a CRPF jawan who died fighting terrorists in Kashmir a few years back. Dhupguri, a scheduled caste-reserved seat, has nearly 50 per cent Rajbanshi people and 15 per cent minority population. The BJP had snatched the constituency from the TMC in the 2021 assembly polls.