Low turnout in UP, Bihar bypolls
LUCKNOW/GORAKHPUR/ALLAHABAD/ PATNA: By-elections in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar passed off peacefully on Sunday amid relatively low voter turnout, according to election officials of the two states.
UP’s Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat registered 47.45% turnout, down from 54.66% in the 2014 general elections. In Phulphur Lok Sabha seat, the turnout stood at 37.39%, down from 50.19% in 2014.
The bypolls witnessed a triangular contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) backed SP candidates in both constituencies.
After voting at Purana Gorakhpur, chief minister Yogi Adityanath flashed the victory sign. Incidentally, it was on this day last year that the BJP and its allies stormed to power in the UP assembly elections.
“I am the first one to vote at this booth, so the BJP will win. People have already rejected the politics of family and dynasty...” said the CM, who represented Gorakhpur in the Lok Sabha five times.
The bypolls were necessitated after Adityanath and deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya vacated their Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats on being elected to the state legislative council.
Adityanath and Maurya had won the seats in 2014 by more than 300,000 votes over their nearest rivals.
Political analyst Manoj Singh said, “Low polling percentage has increased the chances of a close fight between the BJP and the SP... The margin of victory will be very low.”
Ten candidates were in the fray in Gorakhpur, while 22 candidates contested from Phulpur.
The BJP fielded Kaushalendra Singh Patel from Phulpur and Upendra Dutt Shukla from Gorakhpur against the SP’s Pravin Nishad (Gorakhpur) and Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel (Phulpur).
The Congress nominated Sureetha Kareem for Gorakhpur and Manish Mishra for Phulpur.
UP’s chief electoral officer, Lakku Venkateshwarlu, said the polling was peaceful in both constituencies.
In Bihar, barring stray reports of EVMs malfunctioning, polling for Araria Lok Sabha seat, and Bhabua and Jehanabad assembly constituencies saw lower turnout than the last time.
Araria saw 57% turnout, down from 61.47 in 2014. Turnout in Bhabua stood at 54.3%, slipping from 59.80% recorded in the 2015 assembly polls. Jehanabad recorded 50.6% turnout, down from 55.22% in 2015.
The bypolls were necessitated following the death of the sitting representatives. As many as 38 candidates were in the fray. All the seats had a direct contest between nominees of the RJDCongress alliance and the National Democratic Alliance.
Counting of votes is on March 14. The results are being keenly watched for pointers to a possible bigger opposition alliance before the next Lok Sabha polls.