As voting came to a close on Saturday, Meghalaya recorded the highest turnout over 80 percent across 13 states, while Bihar registered the least at around 50 percent.
The bypolls were held in three Lok Sabha seats and 29 Assembly constituencies.
Lok Sabha elections were held in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Mandi in Himachal Pradesh and Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh. The counting of votes will take place on 2 November.
Of the 29 Assembly seats going to the bypolls, five were in Assam, four in West Bengal, three each in Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, two each in Bihar, Karnataka and Rajasthan and one seat each in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Mizoram and Telangana.
The votes will be counted on Tuesday, 2 November, and all eyes will be on key battles in Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana.
Lok Sabha seats
Lok Sabha seats at Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Mandi in Himachal Pradesh and Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh saw 75.51 percent, 54.20 percent and 63.88 percent turnouts, respectively.
Polling was more or less peaceful in all three places. In Madhya Pradesh, however, Cabinet Minister and BJP leader Bhuppendra Siingh met State Election Commission officers in Bhopal and demanded legal action over the alleged booth capturing attempt by Congress supporters of their candidate in Prithvipur Assembly constituency, as per ANI.
West Bengal
A high voter turnout of nearly 71 percent was recorded on Saturday in West Bengal's four assembly constituencies — Gosaba, Santipur, Khardaha and Dinhata — where bypolls were held, an official said.
Barring a few stray incidents, polling, which began at 7 am, passed off peacefully in all four constituencies, the Election Commission official said.
The final poll percentage at 6.30 pm will be available only on Sunday.
Scuffle between TMC and BJP supporters was, however, reported outside a booth in Khardah, where saffron party candidate Joy Saha apparently caught hold of a "fake voter" and handed him over to the police.
TMC candidate and state minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay dubbed the allegations as baseless.
Security personnel had to use batons to disperse the crowd outside the Khardah booth. According to TMC members, deceased MLA Kajal Sinha's son, Arjodeep, was injured in the melee and had to be hospitalised. TMC MP Sougata Roy claimed that Saha's security personnel assaulted Arjodeep.
The ruling party activists gheraoed Saha's car and staged a sit-in on GT road for some time.
Kajal Sinha's death due to COVID-19 necessitated the bypoll in Khardah.
During the day, senior CPM leader Tanmay Bhattacharya had also claimed that his car was attacked when he was about to enter a party office in Khardah. He accused TMC activists of carrying out the attack, an allegation that the ruling party denied.
Similar brawls among activists of rival political parties were also reported from Shantipur in Nadia district and Gosaba in South 24 Parganas district.
In Santipur, Nadia district, BJP's Jagannath Sarkar gave up his Assembly membership to retain his Lok Sabha seat.
Gosaba in South 24 Parganas fell vacant following the death of sitting TMC MLA Jayanta Naskar.
In Dinhata constituency of Coochbehar district, TMC candidate Udayan Guha accused Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nisith Pramanik of entering booth number 232 with armed guards.
Pramanik, whose resignation from the Assembly led to the bypoll in Dinhata, denied the allegations as "politically motivated".
The EC had ordered strict maintenance of COVID-19 guidelines during the by-elections to the four seats. It deployed 27 companies of central armed forces in Dinhata, 22 in Santipur, 20 in Khardah and 23 in Gosaba, an official said.
Strict security and maintenance of COVID-19 protocols were maintained. All eyes will be on Dinhata as TMC heavyweight Udayan Guha is looking to reclaim the seat which the BJP took from him by a whisker in the April polls.
Guha is up against BJP's Ashok Mandal, who had defeated him in 2006 as a TMC candidate.
Bypolls to Dinhata and Santipur are prestige battles for the saffron party, which is currently grappling with exodus of MLAs and senior leaders. The other two seats, however, fell vacant following the death of the winning candidates.
Rajasthan
An average of 65.17 percent voter turnout was recorded in the bypoll to Dhariawad and Vallabhnagar Assembly constituencies of Rajasthan till on Saturday.
In Rajasthan, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has a slim majority and faces infighting in the Congress with party leader Sachin Pilot at the helm of a camp of detractors. Vallabhnagar and Dhariawad, held by the Congress and the BJP respectively will be the seats to watch on the day of results.
The bypolls have been necessitated due to the death of BJP MLA from Dhariawad, Gautam Lal Meena, and Congress MLA from Vallabhnagar, Gajendra Singh Shaktawat.
While the Congress gave ticket to Gajendra Shaktawat's wife Preeti in Vallabhnagar in Udaipur, the BJP has fielded Himmat Singh Jhala. Former BJP MLA and chief of Janta Sena Randhir Singh Bhinder is also contesting as an independent MLA. Apart from them, BJP's rebel Udailal Dangi is also contesting election as Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) candidate in Vallabhnagar.
The by-election in Telangana's Huzurabad has also become a prestige battle for Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy with the polls necessitated following the resignation of Eatala Rajender in June following his removal from the state Cabinet over allegations of land grabbing.
Rajender, who rubbished the allegations, had quit TRS and joined BJP.
Bihar
Bihar — Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur — recorded the lowest voter turnout at 49.85 percent.
Thy bypolls follow the death of the Janata Dal (U) MLAs and is crucial for the NDA government's stability, as the majority of the government rests on a slender margin with just four more than the required mark.
In Tarapur, RJD candidate Arun Kumar Sah will be contesting against JD(U)'s Rajiv Kumar Singh. The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has fielded Chandan Singh, and the Congress, Rajesh Mishra.
From Kusheshwar Asthan, JD(U) has fielded Aman Hazari, the son of deceased MLA Shashi Bhushan Hazari. The Congress has fielded Atirek Kumar while the RJD's Ganesh Bharti will be representing the party from the seat.
Assam
In the Assam bypolls, Bajali (Bhabanipur), Baksa (Tamalpur), Gossaigaon (Gossaigaon), Sivasagar (Thowra) and Titabor (Mariani) saw an average turnout of 73.38 percent.
The ruling BJP has fielded candidates in three seats leaving the other two to alliance partner UPPL. The Congress put up nominees in all the five, while its former allies, the AIUDF and the BPF, are contesting in two and one seats respectively.
Bypolls in Gossaigaon and Tamulpur were necessitated due to death of the sitting MLAs, while the incumbents of Bhabanipur, Mariani and Thowra resigned from their seats to join the ruling BJP. Elected MLAs Rupjyoti Kurmi and Sushanta Borgohain resigned from the Congress and Phanidhar Talukdar from AIUDF and are now fighting on BJP tickets.
Karnataka
Karnataka's voter turnout was 70.76 percent at the close of the day.
The bye-elections in Karnataka's Hanagal and Sindgi constituencies will be the first electoral test for Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who had replaced BS Yediyurappa.
Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh registered an average of 65.13 percent through the Fatehpur, Arki and Jubbal-Kotkhai Assembly seats.
The voting for the Mandi Lok Sabha seat and the Fatehpur, Arki and Jubbal-Kotkhai Assembly seats began at a slow pace at 8 am, the official said, adding that it gained momentum gradually.
The first voter of independent India, 104-year-old Shyam Saran Negi, cast his vote in the Mandi parliamentary bypoll at the model polling station of Kalpa in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh on Saturday, as per PTI.
Meghalaya
Meghalaya led this bypoll season with a 80.62 percent voter turnout. Polls were held in three constituencies - Mawryngkneng, Mawphlang and Rajabala.
Voting for bypolls to three Assembly seats in Meghalaya was peaceful, Chief Electoral Officer FR Kharkongor said.
In Mawryngkneng, KHADC chairman Pyniaid Sing Syiem, a candidate of the ruling National People’s Party (NPP), has locked horns with Congress nominee Highlander Kharmalki and three Independent candidates — Esron Marwein, Arbiangkam Kharsohmat and Norbert Marboh.
Former national footballer Eugeneson Lyngdoh is contesting the election from Mawphlang on a United Democratic Party (UDP) ticket. He is up against former Congress MLA Kennedy C Khyriem and a sitting member of district council (MDC) from the NPP, Lamphrang Blah.
In Rajabala constituency, Congress nominee Hashina Yasmin Mondal is looking to retain the seat, having crossed her swords with former legislator and sitting MDC of the UDP, D Shira, and three others — MD Abdus Saleh of the NPP, Kingston B Marak of the BJP and Independent candidate Carla R Sangma.
Bypolls were necessitated in the three seats following the death of sitting MLAs.
Telangana
Telangana's Huzurabad witnessed 76.26 percent turnout.
TRS candidate Gellu Srinivas Yadav, BJP candidate Eatala Rajender and others cast their votes.
Excluding sporadic incidents of clashes between the TRS and the BJP, polling happened in a peaceful manner. Voters queues up at the polling stations since 7 am onwards across the constituency. At a couple of places, the TRS and the BJP entered into heated arguments accusing each other of violating the model code of conduct and also trying to influence the voters, reported Telangana Today.
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh's Badvel saw a 59.58 percent elector turnout by the close of polling.
Polling was held from 7 am to 7 pm, a senior election official said on Saturday. According to Kadapa Superintendent of Police KKN Anburajan, as many as 281 polling stations for the by-poll were set up out of which 148 were been identified as "critical."
Over 2,000 police personnel including central armed police forces were deployed at necessary places. The Assembly seat fell vacant following the death of ruling YSR Congress Party legislator Gunthoti Venkata Subbaiah in March.
The party has fielded Subbaiah's widow Sudha as its candidate while the opposition Telugu Desam Party announced that it would not nominate anyone to the by-poll respecting the widow of the demised MLA, terming it "traditional values".
Mizoram and Maharashta
Mizoram's Tuirial seat saw the second highest turnout at 81.29 percent.
The by-poll to the seat in the Tuirial Assembly constituency of the Kolasib district was necessitated due to the death of sitting MLA Andrew H Thangliana of Zoram People's Movement (ZPM).
Maharashtra's Nanded district saw a voter turnout of 60.92 percent for the Delgur (SC) seat.
With inputs from agencies
October 30, 2021 at 11:49PM
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