NEW DELHI: With the counting of votes in the by-elections to the seven Assembly constituencies spread across six states to be held today, the security outside the voting centers was detailed and beefed up ahead of the counting.
The security arrangements were also hiked at the godown of Food Corporation of India in Telangana’s Nalgonda, ahead of the vote-counting for Munugode Bypolls.
Counting of the votes for the bypolls, which were held on November 3 is all set to take place at the FCI godown today.
The BJP and the ruling TRS had campaigned aggressively in Munugode. The polling was held on November 3 and the counting of votes will take place today.
In the Assembly bypolls held across six states, the Munugode constituency in Telangana recorded the highest voter turnout with 77,5 pc voting on Thursday, as per Election Commission trends.
Assembly bye-elections were held in seven vacant seats spread across the states of Maharashtra, Haryana, Bihar, Telangana, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh on Thursday. Polling was held between 7 am to 6 pm amid tight security on November 3.
The contest in Telangana’s Munugode Assembly constituency was crucial for all major parties in the state – the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and opposition BJP and Congress.
While 47 candidates are in the fray, eyes are on BJP’s Raj Gopal Reddy, former TRS MLA Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy and Congress’ Palvai Sravanthi.
So far, Reddy has claimed that he is 100 per cent confident of his victory in the ‘crucial’ elections.
“I am 100 per cent confident of winning,” TRS candidate for Munugode Bypoll, Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy told media.
The bypoll results are a prestige battle for Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who is planning for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Meanwhile, the counting of votes for the Mokama and Gopalganj assembly constituencies of Bihar is also scheduled to be held today at the Aryabhatta Knowledge University in Patna.
Groups of people could be seen gathered at the designated center for vote counting along with the deployed security personnel to handle any untoward incident.
According to EC’s approximate trends, 48.35 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the Gopalganj constituency while 52.47 per cent was recorded in Mokama in Bihar.
In Bihar, this was the first major election after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar parted his ways with BJP and joined hands with RJD and Congress to form a Grand Alliance government. The main contest is between the BJP and the RJD in Bihar
For the Mokama bypolls, the BJP has fielded Sonam Devi against RJD’s Neelam Devi, whose husband Anant Singh’s disqualification has necessitated the by-election.
Notably, Mokama is said to be the stronghold of Anant Singh since 2005. He won the seat twice on JD(U) tickets. BJP has given the ticket to Kusum Devi, the wife of incumbent BJP MLA Subhash Singh while RJD has fielded Mohan Prasad Gupta for Goapalganj by-election.
For the Adampur seat in Haryana, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Bhavya Bishnoi has exuded confidence that the people here will ‘celebrate Diwali’ within a few hours.
“This poll was not about winning or losing, but about the victory margin. With the blessings I have received from my Adampur family since the beginning I am confident that people will once again celebrate Diwali within a few hours,” BJP candidate for Adampur Byelection, Bhavya Bishnoi said.
The counting for Adampur bypolls is currently underway and three-layer security has been provided as the EVMs reached here.
“CAPF and district police is deployed. Law and order company with anti-riot equipment present in case of any eventuality. Checking is being done,” the SSP informed.
Haryana’s Adampur seat witnessed the contest between BJP, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with a total voter turnout of 75.25 per cent.
In Adampur, the by-election was necessitated after former chief minister Bhajan Lal’s son Kuldeep Bishnoi resigned as MLA from the seat and switched from the Congress to the BJP in August. Bishnoi’s son Bhavya contested the bypoll as the BJP candidate.
The Congress fielded former Union minister Jai Prakash while the INLD picked Congress rebel Kurda Ram Nambardar as its candidate. Satender Singh was AAP’s candidate. Notably, the Adampur seat is considered a stronghold of Bishnoi.
In Odisha’s Dhamnagar bypoll, there seems to be a tough contest between ruling BJD candidate Abanti Das and BJP candidate Suryabanshi Suraj Sthitaprajana, the son of Bishnu Sethi, BJP MLA after whose death, the assembly seat fell vacant, as its candidate for the by-election.
The EC observed a 66.63 per cent voter turnout recorded in Dhamnagar Assembly constituency bypolls.
In Andheri East, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena faction’s candidate Rutuja Latke, the wife of incumbent Sena MLA Ramesh Latke whose death in May necessitated the poll, is expected to comfortably win the by-polls as the BJP had decided not to contest.
This was the first election after the revolt in the Shiv Sena by Eknath Shinde and 39 other legislators which led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. The NCP and Congress have also supported the candidature of Rutuja Latke. (ANI)