BHUTIA TESTS HIS LUCK IN BYPOLL
Footballer Bhaichung Bhutia, a nominee of Hamro Sikkim Party, is trying to open his account in the electoral turf for the fourth time as campaigning for bypolls drew to a close on Saturday.
NEWDELHI:Hectic campaigning for by-elections to 66 assembly and two Lok Sabha seats across 17 states and one Union Territory drew to a close on Saturday. The bypolls will be held alongside elections to the state legislative assemblies of Maharashtra and Haryana on October 21.
On Monday, Uttar Pradesh will see a version of the assembly elections with bypolls to 11 constituencies coming just months after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the state in the Lok Sabha elections.
Uttar Pradesh will witness a four-cornered contest with the BJP, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress fielding candidates on all 11 assembly seats. The BJP faces the toughest battle in Rampur, the bastion of Samajwadi Party leader Mohd Azam Khan whose wife and RS member Tazeem Fatma has been fielded from the seat. Azam Khan, his family, friends, and associates have been booked in a total of 85 cases, including land grabbing, thefts and power pilferage.
In Bihar, the JD(U) is set to contest four out of five seats, while the BJP will contest one. The Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal are contesting in alliance.
Four Assembly constituencies are going to bypolls in Assam. It will be the first big test for the BJP after the release of the final list of the National Register of Citizens.
Jhabua, the sole seat for bypoll is being held in Madhya Pradesh, is also crucial for the Congress to win as it could make it reach the 115 mark in the 230-member assembly.In Sikkim, the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are contesting the three assembly seats as alliance partners. Footballer Bhaichung Bhutia, a nominee of Hamro Sikkim Party from Gangtok, is also trying to open his account in the electoral turf for the fourth time.
Besides, by-elections will be held for six seats in Gujarat, five in Kerala, four in Punjab, three in Rajasthan, two each in Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh, and one each in Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Telangana, Puducherry and Chhattisgarh. Bypolls to two Lok Sabha seats of Samastipur in Bihar and Satara in Maharashtra will also held on October 21. Results for all elections will be declared October 24.