Bypoll Results 2023: Counting On 7 Seats Begins (Image:witter.com/airnewsalerts/status)
The counting of votes for the by-elections in seven assembly seats across six states began at 8 am on Friday and results will be declared later in the day.
According to the latest reports, Congress candidate Chandy Oommen maintains a massive lead in Puthuppally where his father and Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy was an MLA for five decades.
The seven seats – Ghosi in Uttar Pradesh, Dumri in Jharkhand, Dhanpur and Boxanagar in Tripura, Puthuppally in Kerala, Bageshwar in Uttarakhand, and Dhupguri in West Bengal – went to poll booths on September 5 and witnessed a higher voter turnout.
The verdict is crucial since it is the first electoral contest between BJP-led NDA alliance and the Opposition bloc INDIA ahead of major Assembly polls in several states later this year. And it will also provide implications for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The 2023 by-elections have witnessed a united front from the INDIA alliance in certain constituencies notably Ghosi in Uttar Pradesh and Dumri in Jharkhand. In Bengal’s Dhupguri and Kerala’s Puthuppally seats, the bypolls saw a contest between INDIA alliance partners.
The bloc stands behind the Samajwadi Party in Ghosi and JMM (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) in Dumri, and CPI(M) in Dhanpur and Boxanagar.
The BJP is in direct contest with the Congress in Bageshwar. Interestingly, in a test of Opposition unity in Bageshwar, the SP (Samajwadi Party), despite being a Congress ally in the INDIA bloc, had also fielded a candidate.
Out of these seven seats, three were previously held by the BJP, and one each by the Samajwadi Party, CPI(M), JMM, and Congress. In five seats, bye-elections were necessitated by the deaths of the sitting MLAs, while the two other MLAs resigned from their post.
In Tripura, where an average turnout of 86.50 per cent was recorded in the two seats, the CPM-led Left Front announced that they will boycott the counting since the Election Commission did not take steps to prevent large-scale rigging in Tripura by-elections, reported Times of India.
In Kerala, it is a rigorous battle between the ruling Left Democratic Front and United Democratic Front to fill the seat left vacant by the demise of Congress leader and former CM Oommen Chandy.
In Uttar Pradesh, Ghosi seat fell vacant after the resignation of Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA and OBC leader Dara Singh Chauhan. He rejoined the BJP.
The Bageshwar seat fell vacant after the death BJP leader and cabinet minister Chandan Ram Das in April this year. He had won the seat four times since 2007.
In West Bengal”s Dhupguri, the bypoll to the seat was necessitated due to the death of sitting BJP MLA Bishu Pada Ray earlier this year.
