Voting for four Lok Sabha seats, including the politically-crucial Kairana in Uttar Pradesh and ten assembly constituencies spread across ten states is currently underway.
Besides Kairana in western Uttar Pradesh, by-elections are being held in Bhandara-Gondiya and Palghar parliamentary constituencies of Maharashtra, Shahkot assembly seat in Punjab and for a Nagaland Lok Sabha seat.
The main contest in Shahkot is between the ruling Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), making it a three-cornered contest. Whereas, the Kairana bypoll will see a joint opposition taking on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Voting for #Kairana Lok Sabha by-poll underway; Visuals from polling booth number 29 in Shamli pic.twitter.com/xxuioIEUV3
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 28, 2018
The constituency fell vacant after the death of BJP MP Hukum Singh, whose daughter Mriganka Singh is now the party’s candidate for the bypoll. She is fighting Rashtriya Lok Dal’s (RLD) Tabassum Hasan, who is supported by the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The Opposition hopes that by consolidating anti-BJP votes, they will repeat the success of the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha by-elections, where the ruling party suffered an unexpected defeat.
The ruling BJP, on the other hand, is making extra efforts to retain the seat to try and send a strong message to voters, party cadres as well as the opposition parties — that the drubbing in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur byelections was an aberration, and that it was still strong in western UP.
All four major parties in Maharashtra — the Congress, BJP , Shiv Sena and the NCP — have pulled out all stops for the Lok Sabha bypolls as the outcome is likely to have a bearing on their future course.
#PalgharLoksabhabyelection: People outside a polling booth in Palghar pic.twitter.com/sdbOYadeHj
— ANI (@ANI) May 28, 2018
The Shiv Sena has fielded late BJP MP Chintaman Wanaga’s son Shriniwas Wanaga in Palghar, much to the dislike of the BJP which has in-turn nominated Congress deserter Rajendra Gavit.
The bypoll in Palghar was necessitated due to the death of sitting BJP MP Chintaman Wanaga in January this year.
In Bhandra-Gondia, Nana Patole quit as the BJP MP and resigned from the ruling party to return to the Congress earlier this year, necessitating the by-election.
The BJP is confident of retaining the two seats while the opposition feels setbacks to the ruling party in the bypoll would boost the vigour of the ‘anti-BJP camp’ and lead to new alignments in state politics.
The ruling party has locked horns with the NCP for retaining the Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha seat while in Palghar, it is in a direct fight with the ally Shiv Sena even though the contest is multi-cornered.
In Nagaland capital Kohima, Chief Electoral Officer Abhijit Sinha said all arrangements had been made for the peaceful conduct of the bypoll to the lone Lok Sabha seat in the northeastern state.
The bypoll is a straight contest between ruling Peoples Democratic Alliance (PDA) candidate Tokheho Yepthomi and opposition NPF nominee C Apok Jamir.
The Lok Sabha bypoll was necessitated following the resignation of Neiphiu Rio from the Lok Sabha to contest the Nagaland Assembly election in February. Rio is presently the chief minister of the state.
West Bengal: Voting underway at a polling booth in Maheshtala for assembly by-poll pic.twitter.com/wTQal8gFd7
— ANI (@ANI) May 28, 2018
The assembly bypolls will take place in Maharashtra (Palus Kadegaon constituency), Uttar Pradesh (Noorpur), Bihar (Jokihat), Jharkhand (Gomia and Silli), Kerala (Chengannur), Meghalaya (Ampati), Punjab (Shahkot), Uttarakhand (Tharali) and West Bengal (Maheshtala). The counting of votes will take place on May 31. (With inputs from agencies & India today)
