Voting Underway for By-elections in 3 Lok Sabha, 29 Assembly Seats

Voters showcasing their inked-fingers after casting their vote under 127 Gosaba (SC) Assembly Constituency of South 24 Parganas District.

Photo: Twitter/@CEOWestBengal

Voting for by-elections in three Lok Sabha seats – in Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Madhya Pradesh's Khandwa, and Himachal Pradesh's Mandi – began on Saturday, 30 October, along with 29 Assembly constituencies across 13 states that also began polling.

All three Lok Sabha seats were left vacant after the demise of their respective MPs. Mandi MP Ramswaroop Sharma and Khandwa MP Nand Kumar Singh Chauhan passed away in March, while Dadar MP Mohan Delkar allegedly died by suicide in February.

Further, bypolls are being conducted in Assembly constituencies of states including Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Haryana, Bihar, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Maharashtra, Nagaland, and Andhra Pradesh.

West Bengal: 4 Assembly Seats Go to Polls

In West Bengal, Dinhata, Santipur, Khardaha, and Gosaba went to polls on Saturday. The electoral fight for Santipur and Dinhata will test if the BJP can retain their hold in those seats, given that the party is facing a striking number of defections in WB.

As per data by the Election Commission, Dinhata recorded 47.83 percent voter turnout till 1 pm, while Santipur, Khardaha, and Gosaba recorded 48 percent, 36.70 percent, and 52.19 percent, respectively, news agency ANI reported.

In the Kardah bypoll, the Trinamool Congress has fielded its state minister Sovadeb Chattopadhyay, who won the Assembly elections from Bhabanipur constituency but quit in the wake of Mamata Banerjee's loss, giving her a chance to maintain her position as the Chief Minister.

Polling Underway in Assam, Bihar Records 38% Turnout

In Assam, Tamulpur, Mariani, and Thowra are going to polls, where sitting Congress MLAs quit to join the BJP. In Assam's Gossaigaon, Bhabanipur, the elections are a result of vacancies left by the sitting leader's demise.

Among the other Assembly constituencies going to the bypolls are Jobat, Raigaon and Prithvipur in MP, Arki, Fatehpur and Jubbal-Kotkhai in HP, Rajabala, Mawryngkneng and Mawphlang in Meghalaya, and two each in Bihar, Karnataka, and Maharashtra.

In Himachal, the Jubbal-Kotkhai Assembly seat witnessed a voter turnout of over 27 percent till 12 pm, while the Mandi Lok Sabha recorded a turnout of 19 percent, PTI reported.

Amid tensions between the RJD and Congress, Kusheshwar Asthan, and Tarapur in Bihar recorded nearly 38 percent voter turnout by 1 pm, The Indian Express reported.

The Chief Electoral Officer in Karnataka said that a voter turnout of 9.77 percent was recorded till 9 am in Sindgi and Hanagal constituencies on Saturday, ANI reported.

In AP, Badvel is going to the polls while by-elections for Haryana's Ellenabad, Maharashtra's Deglur, Mizoram's Tuirial, and Telangana's Huzurabad seat will also be conducted today.

By 9 am, 10.49 percent voter turnout was recorded in Badvel, ANI reported.