By-polls for Srinagar LS seat, 10 assembly seats including Delhi today; Internet services suspended in Kashmir

Representational image, courtesy: PTI

New Delhi: By-elections to the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat and 10 assembly constituencies in eight states, including the national capital, will be held on Sunday. The assembly constituencies that go to the polls on Sunday are: Rajouri Garden (Delhi), Litipara (Jharkhand), Nanjangud and Gundlupet (Karnataka), Dholpur (Rajasthan), Kanthi Dakshin (West Bengal), Ater and Bandhavgarh (Madhya Pradesh), Bhoranj (Himachal Pradesh) and Dhemaii (Assam). Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah is contesting the Srinagar seat that fell vacant after the resignation of Peoples Democratic Party leader Tariq Hameed Karra during last year's unrest following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. While counting for the Lok Sabha by-election will be held on April 15, votes for the assembly by-polls will be counted on April 13. Delhi's Rajouri Garden by-polls, a trailer to the upcoming municipal elections By-election to West Delhi's Rajouri Garden assembly seat is seen as the trailer to the upcoming municipal elections this month. The seat fell vacant after the Aam Adami Party's Jarnail Singh quit to contest the Punjab Assembly polls held earlier this year. By-elections to two more Lok Sabha seats, Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir and Malappuram in Kerala, will be held on Wednesday. The Anantnag seat fell vacant when Mehbooba Mufti resigned from the Lok Sabha to assume the Chief Minister's office in Jammu and Kashmir, while the Malappuram by-poll was necessitated by the death of IUML leader E. Ahamed in February. In addition, two assembly seats, Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar (Tamil Nadu) and Upper Burtuk (Sikkim), are also scheduled to go to the polls on the same day. J. Deepa, niece of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, is contesting the Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar seat which fell vacant after Jayalalithaa's death last year. Both warring factions of the AIADMK -- led by Sasikala and O. Panneerselvam -- and J. Deepa want to win the election to lay claim to Jayalalithaa's legacy. Sasikala's nephew T.T.V. Dinanakaran is facing party veteran E. Madhusudhanan and Deepa in the by-poll. Counting of votes for the assembly seats and the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat will take place on April 15, while the results for the Malappuram seat will be announced on April 17. Internet services suspended in poll-bound Kashmir districts Authorities have suspended all internet services in the three districts of Srinagar, Budgam and Gandarbal where voting is scheduled on Sunday for the parliamentary by-elections. Both mobile internet and fixed line broadband connectivity were suspended in the three poll-bound districts which constitute Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary constituency. The authorities refused to confirm the suspension of the internet connectivity on record. Sources said that the suspension has been enforced to prevent separatists and rumour mongers from disrupting the polls. The voting in the parliamentary by-poll would begin at 7 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. A total of 1,261,397 voters are eligible to exercise democratic right for which 1,559 polling stations have been set up. Police and paramilitary forces have been deployed to secure the poll staff and polling stations. Ruling Peoples Democratic Party candidate Nazir Ahmad Khan is challenged by former Chief minister and National Conference President Farooq Abdullah. Although there are nine candidates in the fray, the contest is mainly between Khan and Abdullah who is the joint candidate of the National Conference and the Congress. About by-elections: By-elections are used to fill elected offices that have become vacant between general elections. In most cases these elections occur after the incumbent dies or resigns. However, they also occur when the incumbent becomes ineligible to continue in office.