Voting for by-elections underway for 53 assembly seats in 10 states

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Voting for by elections in 54 assembly seats in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Odisha, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Nagaland is also taking place today.

In Karnataka, the polling for State Assembly By-Election to Sira and R. R. Nagar is progressing peacefully. Sira reported 44.13 per cent voter turnout while the turnout remained at 26.58 per cent in R R Nagar within Bengaluru city till 1 p.m. There are 15 candidates in fray in Sira and 16 in R. R. Nagar constituency. BJP, Congress and JD(S) have fielded their candidates in both the constituencies. There are 330 Polling Booths in Sira and 678 in R R Nagar. AIR correspondent reports that amble precautions are taken during the first election to be held under the shadow of pandemic in the state. Masks, gloves, sanitizer and thermal screening were seen in all the booths. The police personnel ensured social distancing.

There are 3,857 personnel deployed for the election management in Sira and in R R Nagar 9,515 personnel are deployed. These include Micro observers, state police, six companies of Central Armed Police Forces and ballot unit technical staff. In this election, M-3 EVMs are being used as they have long lasting batteries and can connect with up to 24 Ballot units as against four Ballot units in M-2 model. It can also accommodate 384 candidates as against 64 candidates in the M-2 model.

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In Madhya Pradesh, voting for By-Polls in 28 Assembly seats in the state is going on peacefully and as per the COVID-19 guidelines. Around 38.72 per cent polling was recorded till 1 P.M.

There were also complaints of malfunctioning of EVM machines at some places, while a firing incident was reported outside a Polling Centre in Morena.

The By-Elections in Madhya Pradesh were necessitated after 22 MLAs of the erstwhile Congress Government switched over to the BJP in March 2020, leading to the fall of Kamal Nath-led Government.

A total of 355 candidates, including 14 Ministers, are in the fray for by-polls to these 28 seats in the state. Around 33,000 security personnel have been deployed in 19 districts where these constituencies fall and all preparations have been made to hold free and fair polls.

As many as nine thousand 361 booths have been set up for people to exercise their franchise and out of these, three thousand 38 are placed under the ‘critical’ category

In most of the seats, there is a direct flight between the BJP and Congress, while in two or three seats of Gwalior Chambal region, a triangular contest is on the cards in the wake of the BSP’s presence.

In Chhattisgarh, polling is progressing peacefully for by election in Marwahi Assembly Constituency. Around 41.46 per cent polling was recorded till 1 p.m. AIR correspondent reports, in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, special precautions are being taken in Polling Stations during Marwahi Assembly by-election in Chhattisgarh. Availability of thermal scanner, hand gloves, sanitiser, soap and water were ensured at Polling Stations . Voters maintained social distancing and wore masks while they stood in queues to cast their votes across different Polling Booths.

Voters are being screened through thermal scanners at Polling Booths. Masks and gloves are also being given to voters and they have been asked to maintain physical distancing at the polling stations.

In Telangana, 34.33 per cent polling was reported till 11 A.M. in Dubbaka By-Poll today. Polling will continue till 6 P.M. Over one lakh 98 thousand electors are eligible to exercise their franchise at over 300 Polling Stations in the constituency while total 23 candidates, including of the ruling TRS, Opposition Congress and BJP candidates are in the fray.

The election was necessitated following the death of sitting MLA S. Ramalinga Reddy earlier during the year. The TRS and Opposition Congress and BJP have taken the by-poll as prestigious and making all out efforts to win the seat. The counting of votes will take place on 10th of this month.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has given its approval for Corona Positive patients to exercise their franchise during the last hour of polling in PPE kits. It may be known that Siddipet district, in which Dubbaka constituency falls, is one of the intense COVID districts of the state, reported 30 fresh COVID cases during the past 24 hours.

In Jharkhand, polling for By-Election in Dumka and Burmu Assembly Constituencies is going on in full swing. Till 1 p.m.,46.07 per cent votes were cast in Burmu Assembly constituency and 46.96 per cent votes were cast in Dumka Assembly Constituency. The voting of both the constituency is going on peacefully.

In Nagaland, voting in 99 Polling Stations of the two Assembly seats in Nagaland is under way today for the State By-elections in which over 43,000 voters will decide the fate of eight candidates in fray.

Out of the eight candidates, three Candidates are in fray for 14-Southern Angami-1 Assembly Constituency, while five candidates are contesting for 60 Pungro-Kiphire seat.

A total of 71.92 per cent voters’ turnout was recorded till 1 P.M. for both the two constituencies. Poll percentage of 78.75 was recorded in 60 Pungro-Kiphire and 57.1 per cent in Southern Angami-1.

Polling process which began at 6 A.M. is being conducted peacefully in all Polling Stations. The polling process will come to an end at 4 P.M. A total of 43,088 electors including 21,388 women voters are eligible to cast their franchise for both the constituencies.

The Southern Angami-1 Assembly Constituency has a total of 13,588 electors including 53 service voters and 7,281 women voters while, 60 Pungro-Kiphire Assembly constituency has 29,500 electors including 101 service voters and 14,107 female voters.

Elaborate security arrangements are also being put in place for smooth conduct of the bye polls, besides ensuring all COVID norms.

Chief Electoral Officer Abhijit Sinha said, all arrangements has been done for conduct of the By-poll in a peaceful, free fair and safe manner. Counting of votes will take place on 10th of November.

In Gujarat, more than 23 per cent average turnout was recorded in By-Elections of eight Assembly seats till 11 A.M. Quoting official sources, our correspondent reports that maximum 39 per cent polling was recorded in Dang constituency during the first four hours. Limbadi seat of Surendranagar district recorded 26 per cent turnout till 11 a.m. While Morbi seat recorded 24 per cent turnout during the same period. Lowest 16 per cent turnout was recorded in Dhari seat of Amreli district.

Polling started at 7 a.m. for By-Elections of eight Assembly seats which include Abadasa, Limbdi, Morbi, Dhari, Karjan, Gadhada SC and Dang and Kaprada ST seats. More than 18 lakh 17 thousand voters including more than nine lakh women voters are eligible to cast their votes. Elaborate arrangements have been made for free and fair polling including tight security arrangements.

In Uttar Pradesh, voting for by-elections to 7 Assembly seats will be held from 7 am to 6 pm today, adhering to all COVID-19 guidelines. Out of these seven seats, six were held by the BJP and one by Samajwadi Party. AIR correspondent reports, in the wake of the Covid pandemic all necessary arrangements have been made for the free fair and corona free polling at all the polling stations. These by elections are crucial for the ruling BJP who campaigned extensively under leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. He has completed more than 3.5 years in the office and the results can give a sense of mood of the public before assembly elections in 2022.

The seven seats on which pilling is going on are Naugawan Sadat in Amroha Bulandshahar, Tundla seat in firozabad Bangarmau in Unnao, Ghatampur in Kanpur dehat ,Deoria sadr and Malahani in Jaunpur district. Altogether there are 88 candidates in the fray for these 7 seats with Bulandshahr seat having the highest number of 18 candidates while the Ghatampur seat has the lowest of 6.

In Odisha, voting is underway for byelection to the Baleswar sadar and Tirtol assembly constituencies. Adequate arrangements have been made for security as well as for making the entire process covid safe. More than 800 polling stations have been set up in the two constituencies. AIR correspondent reports, while 90 platoons of police force and 6 companies of Central armed police forces has been deployed to ensure security of the polling process in both the constituencies, more than three thousand polling personnel are engaged to conduct voting.

Along with this, about eight hundred Anganwadi and ASHA workers and an equal number of volunteers have also been deployed to assist in making the process covid safe.

As per the arrangement, while all the polling booths will continue to be intermittently sanitized as the polling progresses through the day, voters are being made to pass through thermal screening before they can cast their votes. Those with high body temperature are being issued tokens to cast their votes at last.

A maximum of one thousand voters will be allowed at each polling station to cast their votes for which the number polling stations have almost been doubled to ensure social distancing and other covid-19 preventive protocols.