New Delhi: Counting of votes for three Lok Sabha and seven assembly seats spread across five states and Delhi, where bypolls were held on June 23, will be held on Sunday (June 26, 2022). Counting of votes will begin at 8 am under a multi-layered security cordon. First the postal ballots will be counted and then the EVMs will be opened. The three Lok Sabha seats that went to polls on June 23 are Azamgarh and Rampur in Uttar Pradesh and Sangrur in Punjab. The seven assembly seats are Rajinder Nagar in Delhi, Mandar in Jharkhand, Atmakur in Andhra Pradesh and Agartala, Town Bordowali, Surma and Jabarajnagar in Tripura.
The fate of Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha will be decided today. While a reversal of government in the states is unlikely to result in any, most are high-profile, prestige battles with significant political pride at stake.
Tripura Bypolls:
Tripura has the maximum number of four seats- Agartala, Jubrajnagar, Soorma and Town Bardowali. Saha, who is contesting from Bardowali town, will have to win this election to remain the chief minister. He is a Rajya Sabha member who took oath last month following the sudden resignation of the then Chief Minister Biplab Deb. Tripura recorded the highest turnout of 76.62 per cent on Thursday.
Uttar Pradesh Bypolls:
The bypolls in Uttar Pradesh were held due to the resignation of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and party leader Azam Khan from Azamgarh and Rampur seats respectively. Both the leaders resigned as Lok Sabha members after being elected to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly in the elections held earlier this year.
From Rampur, BJP has fielded Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi, who recently joined the party. Asim Raja, chosen by Azam Khan, is the SP candidate. Mayawati-led BSP is not contesting from Rampur. Azamgarh seat saw a triangular contest between Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirhua’ of BJP, Bhojpuri actor-singer Dharmendra Yadav of SP and Shah Alam of BSP, also known as Guddu Jamali.
Punjab Bypolls:
In Sangrur, the bypoll was necessitated following Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s resignation from the Lok Sabha after being elected as an MLA in the state assembly elections earlier this year. Mann had won the Sangrur seat in the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections.
The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab is facing its first test of popularity after its impressive performance in the assembly elections. The bypolls come at a time when AAP is facing the heat of the opposition over the law and order situation in the state and the killing of singer Sidhu Musewala.
AAP has fielded the party’s Sangrur district in-charge Gurmail Singh. Dalveer Singh Goldy, a former Dhuri MLA from the main opposition Congress, while BJP candidate Kewal Dhillon, a former MLA from Barnala, joined the party on June 4.
Jharkhand by-elections:
The bypolls in Jharkhand were necessitated after Bandhu Tirkey was disqualified as an MLA after being convicted in a corruption case. On March 28, a special CBI court in Jharkhand sentenced Tirkey to three years’ imprisonment.
The Congress has fielded his daughter Shilpi Neha Tirkey as the general candidate of the ruling JMM-led alliance, while the BJP has fielded former MLA Gangotri Kujur from the seat. Congress and RJD are the two other constituents of the ruling alliance in Jharkhand. Independent candidate Dev Kumar Dhan, backed by Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), is also in the fray.
Delhi’s Rajinder Nagar by-election:
Amid the assembly polls, a high-stakes contest will be decided in the Rajinder Nagar bypoll in the national capital, which also saw a drop in voting percentage, from 58.3% in 2020 to 43.75% three days ago. In Delhi’s Rajinder Nagar, AAP’s Durgesh Pathak is likely to face a close contest with BJP’s Rajesh Bhatia, who has also been a councilor from the area. Congress candidate is Prem Lata.
Recently, a by-election had to be held after AAP leader Raghav Chadha left the seat after being elected to the Rajya Sabha.
Andhra Pradesh by-elections:
Bypolls are being held in Andhra Pradesh to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Industries Minister Mekapati Gowtham Reddy in February. His younger brother Vikram Reddy is a candidate of the ruling YSR Congress and is pitted against BJP’s G Bharat Kumar Yadav.
(with PTI inputs)