Assembly Bypolls: The counting of votes for the by elections in 13 assembly constituencies across seven states began on Saturday.
The voting for the bypolls was held on July 10. The bypolls took place in Assembly constituencies in West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Madhya Pradesh.
The latest bypolls were the first electoral exercise after the Lok Sabha elections, which saw the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fall short of a majority and the opposition bloc, I.N.D.I.A gain strength and improve their tally in the Lower House.
Assembly Bypolls: Here Are Top Points
- The assembly constituencies that went to the polls were Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagda, and Maniktala (West Bengal); Dehra, Hamirpur, and Nalagarh (Himachal Pradesh); Badrinath and Manglaur (Uttarakhand); Jalandhar West (Punjab); Rupauli (Bihar); Vikravandi (Tamil Nadu); and Amarwara (Madhya Pradesh).
- Speaking on bypolls in four seats in West Bengal, an official of the Election Commission told PTI, "We have made adequate security arrangements in and around the counting centres. Apart from the state police, central forces are also deployed". The bypolls for Maniktala, Bagdah, Ranaghat Dakshin and Raiganj assembly seats were held on July 10.
- In West Bengal, which is set to witness a battle between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the BJP, Raiganj witnessed the highest voter turnout at 71.99 per cent, followed by Ranaghat Dakshin at 70.56 per cent, Bagdah at 68.44 per cent and Maniktala at 54.98 per cent.
- The need for bypolls at Raiganj was necessitated as Krishna Kalyani from Raiganj, Biswajit Das from Bagdah, and Mukut Mani Adhikari from Ranaghat Dakshin gave up their seats to contest the Lok Sabha polls. Despite the saffron party winning these seats in 2021, the MLAs later switched to the TMC.
- In Maniktala, bypolls were held after the death of state minister Sadhan Pandey in February 2022.
- Amidst the polling, a few sporadic incidents of violence were reported from Maniktala, Bagdah, and Ranaghat Dakshin. The BJP accused TMC activists of assaulting its booth agents and preventing its candidates from visiting polling stations.
- BJP candidates Binay Kumar Biswas and Manoj Kumar Biswas from Badgah and Ranaghat Dakshin, respectively had claimed that they were not granted permission to visit some booths.
- In Himachal Pradesh, polling was held for the Dehra, Hamirpur and the Nalagarh assembly constituencies on Wednesday. Thirteen candidates, including of the BJP and the Congress, were in the fray.
- As far as Uttarakhand is concerned, polling took place in two assembly constituencies. The Manglaur bypoll was necessitated by the death of sitting BSP MLA Sarwat Karim Ansari in October last year. The Badrinath seat fell vacant after sitting Congress MLA Rajendra Bhandari resigned and switched to the BJP in March this year.