Bypolls: Sporadic incidents of violence reported in Uttarakhand, West Bengal
New Delhi: Bypolls were held in 13 Assembly constituencies across seven states on Wednesday amid sporadic incidents of violence reported from West Bengal and Uttarakhand.
Madhya Pradesh's Amarwara recorded the highest voter turnout of 78.71 per cent, followed by Tamil Nadu's Vikravandi where 77.73 per cent polling was recorded. The lowest was from Uttarakhand's Badrinath at 47.68 per cent, according to the Election Commission's Voter Turnout App at 7:30 pm.
The bypolls were held in West Bengal (4 seats), Himachal Pradesh (3), Uttarakhand (2), Tamil Nadu (1), Madhya Pradesh (1), Punjab (1) and Bihar (1). Of the 13 seats which went to polls, BJP, Congress and Trinamool Congress had two MLAs each and BSP, JD(U), DMK and AAP one MLA each . Three were independents.
Incidents of violence were recorded from West Bengal and Uttarakhand.
In West Bengal, the seats that went to polls were Bagdah (65.15 per cent), Ranaghat Dakshin (65.37 per cent), Raiganj (67.12 per cent) and Maniktala (51.39 per cent). There were minor incidents of violence in Bagdah and Ranaghat Dakshin constituencies
BJP candidates Manoj Kumar Biswas (Ranaghat Dakshin) and Binay Kumar Biswas (Badgah) alleged that they were not allowed to visit some booths by Trinamool Congress, which denied the claims as "baseless".
In Uttarakhand's Manglaur, where the voter turnout was 67.28 per cent, four persons were injured in a clash between workers of different parties at a polling booth. Congress leaders, including former chief minister Harish Rawat, condemned the violence.
Himachal Pradesh witnessed impressive turnout where bypolls were held for three seats -- Dehra (63.89 per cent), Hamirpur (65.78 per cent) and Nalagarh (75.22 per cent). These seats were represented by independent candidates who resigned from their seats to contest on BJP ticket. Himachal Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu's wife Kamlesh fought for the Dehra seat.
Jalandhar West seat saw a voter turnout of 51.30 per cent, while in Bihar's Rupauli, the polling percentage was 51.14 per cent. The bypoll was necessitated following the resignation of sitting MLA Bima Bharti, who left JD(U) to join RJD.