Polling began on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, morning for the high-stakes Jalandhar Lok Sabha by-election where a four-cornered electoral battle is in the offing with the AAP, Congress, BJP, and Shiromani Akali Dal vying to outdo each other in the Dalit stronghold.
Amid tight security arrangements, voting for the Jalandhar parliamentary constituency began at 8 am and will continue till 6 pm, said officials.
There are a total 1,621,800 eligible voters, including 844,904 males, 776,855 females, and 41 transgenders in the constituency.
Nineteen candidates, including four women, are in the fray. The counting of votes will take place on May 13.
There are 1,972 polling stations in the constituency and 497 of them have been identified as critical, officials said.
A dedicated women-only polling station has been set up in all nine assembly constituencies, which are part of the Jalandhar parliamentary seat.
The Jalandhar Lok Sabha (reserved) seat fell vacant following Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary's death. He suffered a cardiac arrest during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jalandhar's Phillaur in January.
The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded former MLA Sushil Rinku who quit the Congress to join the Punjab's ruling party while the Congress has shown its faith in Karamjit Kaur, Santokh Chaudhary's wife.
The BJP has fielded Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, a Dalit Sikh, who quit the Shiromani Akali Dal to join the saffron party. Atwal is the son of former Punjab Vidhan speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal who had also joined the BJP.
The SAD has fielded its two-time MLA from Banga seat Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi, who is a doctor. The SAD candidate is backed by its ally, the Bahujan Samaj Party. The Simranjit Singh Mann-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) has fielded Gurjant Singh.
A win is important for AAP which had faced drubbing in the Sangrur Lok Sabha by-poll, just three months after it came to power in March 2022 with a thumping majority of 92 seats in the 117 assembly segments in Punjab.
The bypoll is also being seen as a test of the one-year performance of the Bhagwant Mann-led government which has promised providing free electricity, jobs to youth, regularising services of contractual employees, action against corruption and opening of mohalla clinics among others.
The Congress, meanwhile, is looking to defend its citadel with its prestige at stake. The Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat is considered to be a traditional Congress stronghold and the party has remained undefeated from here since 1999.
The stakes are also high for the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal which saw humiliating defeats during the 2022 Punjab assembly polls. Both parties were once allies in Punjab. The SAD broke ties with the BJP in 2020 over the now-repealed farm laws.
Voting begins for assembly bypolls in UP
Voting got underway in the bypolls to the Suar and Chhanbey assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday morning.
There is a direct contest between the ruling coalition and the Opposition Samajwadi Party in the bypolls. Though the results will have no precipitative impact on the constitution of the assembly, it will be a morale booster for the victor before the Lok Sabha poll next year.
A total of 14 candidates are in the fray -- six in Suar and eight in Chhanbey.
The Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party has decided to not contest the by-elections, while the Congress has fielded its candidate only in Chhanbey.
With leaders either campaigning in Karnataka or busy with the urban local bodies elections of Uttar Pradesh, the campaign for the two seats in Rampur and Mirzapur districts has been lacklustre.
The Suar seat in Rampur district will be in focus as it was held by Abdullah Azam Khan, senior SP leader Azam Khan's son, before it was declared vacant on February 13 after a Moradabad court sentenced the young leader to two years in jail in a 15-year-old case.
In the previous assembly also, the Allahabad high court had in 2020 set aside his election for not declaring his correct age in the affidavit.
The Samajwadi Party is going all out in its attempt to defend what can be called its last citadel in Rampur while the Apna Dal (Sonelal), an ally of the ruling BJP, is leaving no stone unturned to breach it, especially after the saffron party snatched the Rampur assembly as well as the parliamentary seats, both of which were Azam Khan's stronghold.
Azam Khan himself was disqualified from the assembly last year after a court sentenced him to three years in jail in a hate speech case.
In the 2022 UP assembly election, Abdullah Azam Khan had defeated the Apna Dal (Sonelal)'s Haidar Ali Khan in Suar by over 61,000 votes.
This time, the Samajwadi Party has fielded Anuradha Chauhan from the seat and the Apna Dal (Sonelal) has named Shafeek Ahmed Ansari.
The Chhanbey seat in Mirzapur fell vacant following Apna Dal (Sonelal) MLA Rahul Prakash Kol;s death in February. The party has fielded Kol's wife Rinki Kol while Kirti Kol is the Samajwadi Party candidate.
In the 403-member Uttar Pradesh assembly, the BJP has 255 MLAs while its allies the Apna Dal (Sonelal) and the NISHAD party have 11 and six legislators respectively.
The Samajwadi Party has 109 MLAs while its ally the Rashtriya Lok Dal has nine. The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party has six MLAs, the Congress and the Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) have two each and the Bahujan Samaj Party has one member in the assembly.
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Meghalaya: Voting begins for Sohiong bypoll
The by-election was necessitated following UDP candidate H D R Lyngdoh's death ahead of the assembly elections in the state on February 27. Polling in Sohiong was postponed after Lyngdoh's death.
Six candidates are in the fray. All of them are men: Synshar Lyngdoh Thabah of the UDP, Samlin Malngiang of the NPP, S Osborne Kharjana of the Congress, Sandondor Ryntathiang of the HSPDP, Sereph E Kharbuki of the BJP, and Stodingstar Thabah of the TMC.
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Polling begins for Jharsuguda by-election in Odisha
Over 1,000 poll officials and an adequate number of security personnel, including seven companies of paramilitary forces, have been deployed.
Jharsuguda Superintendent of Police Parmar Smit Parshottamdas said CCTV cameras and deployment of micro-observers and central forces have been ensured in 106 booths identified as critical, besides 30 as demanded by various political parties. 19 platoons comprising around 570 police personnel, besides 100 officers, have been deployed, the SP added.
Collector cum District Election Officer Aboli Sunil Naravane said this was the first time that webcasting was done in all the 253 polling stations.
The by-election was necessitated following the murder of sitting MLA and the then Health Minister Naba Kishore Das on January 29.
Though nine candidates are in the fray, the contest is mainly between the BJD, BJP and Congress.
The BJD has fielded Das's daughter Deepali Das, while the BJP has nominated Tankadhar Tripathy. The Congress has fielded Tarun Pandey, the late MLA Biren Pandey's son.
All the three candidates are debutant contestants.
The bypoll gains significance as it is the last election before the Lok Sabha polls next year. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had campaigned for BJD candidate Deepali Das while Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Bisheswar Tudu had canvassed for BJP nominee Tankadhar Tripathy.
