Voters brave rain to register 76% turnout in Kerala
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: IN MEGHALAYA, WHERE THE BYELECTION WAS HELD TO THE AMPATI ASSEMBLY SEAT, ABOUT 65% VOTES WERE CAST TILL 1.30PM
Braving heavy pre-monsoon showers and strong winds, at least 76% voters exercised their franchise in Kerala’s Chenganur assembly constituency on Monday, when bypolls were held in four Lok Sabha and 10 assembly seats across the country.
While the ruling CPI(M) has fielded party Alappuzha district secretary Saji Cherian, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) former state president PS Sreedharan Pillai and Congress’s veteran leader SD Vijayakumar are also in the fray. The by-election was necessitated with the death of sitting MLA KK Ramachandran Nair of the CPI(M).
The stakes are high for all three contenders in the bypoll. While the CPI(M) is desperate to retain its seat as it feels the result will be a referendum on its government, for the BJP, it will be an opportunity to announce its arrival in the state. The Congress, meanwhile, wants to retain its stronghold that slipped out of its kitty last time.
Meanwhile, moderate polling was recorded in the Raja Rajeshwari (RR) Nagar assembly constituency in Bengaluru amid tight security, a poll official said.
“Over 35% voting has been registered in all 471 polling stations across the constituency till 2pm. Polling has been peaceful, barring glitches in a few EVMs that were soon rectified,” returning officer S Shailaja said. The constituency has 4.7 lakh voters.
“Polling, which began at 7am, started on a brisk note and moderated post-noon as the day progressed with 11% voting till 9am and 24% by 11am. Polling will end at 6pm,” said Shailaja.
The election in the assembly segment was postponed from May 12 due to electoral malpractices, including detection of 9,564 voter ID cards at a residential apartment in the area. The votes will be counted on May 31.
In Meghalaya, where the by-election was held to the Ampati assembly seat, about 65% votes were cast till 1.30pm, elec- tion office sources said. Chief electoral officer FR Kharkongor said the voting had been peaceful and incident-free so far. He said the VVPAT at Rongsakona polling station had to be changed when a technical error was detected in the voting machine.
The by-election was necessitated after Leader of Opposition Mukul Sangma resigned from Ampati after winning from Songsak seat as well in the February 27 state assembly election.
Both Jokihat assembly seat in Bihar and Silli assembly seat in Jharkhand recorded about 18% polling on Monday.
In Bihar, the bypoll is being viewed as a test of strength between the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of Lalu Prasad. Former Jharkhand CM and JMM working president Hemant Soren tweeted about malfunctioning of EVMs in several polling booths. “I have received concerned calls from voters, polling agents regarding constant EVM malfunctioning in atleast 13 booths in Rahe and Sonahutu blocks under Silli constituency (sic),” he said.
Officials said 10% polling was reported till 10am in Tharali constituency in Uttarakhand that saw a bypoll after the death of BJP legislature Magan Lal Shah. The polling has been peaceful in the 178 booths in Tharali, which is reserved for Scheduled Castes.
The Shahkot assembly constituency, where a bypoll is underway, witnessed 69% polling till 5pm, an official said. There was no report of any violence during the polling, the official added.
Punjab chief electoral officer S Karuna Raju said the polling was peaceful but one person was caught by security officials with a pistol at a polling booth.