Bypolls underway for 10 seats, battle of status for AAP in Punjab

By PTI

NEW DELHI: Bypolls for 3 Lok Sabha and 7 meeting seats unfold throughout 5 states and one union territory had been underway on Thursday, with Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha among the many outstanding candidates within the fray.

Counting of votes for the bypolls in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Tripura, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand can be taken up on Sunday.

In the bypoll for Punjab’s Sangrur Lok Sabha seat, all eyes are on the AAP which is dealing with its first check of recognition after its spectacular efficiency within the meeting elections.

The bypolls come at a time when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is dealing with Opposition warmth over the legislation and order subject and the killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala.

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The fundamental opposition Congress has fielded former Dhuri MLA Dalvir Singh Goldy within the bypoll whereas the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made former Barnala MLA Kewal Dhillon its candidate, who joined the saffron social gathering on June 4.

Kamaldeep Kaur, the sister of Balwant Singh Rajoana, a convict in former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh’s assassination case, has been fielded by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann can be within the fray.

The Sangrur Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after Bhagwant Mann resigned as MP after successful Dhuri seat within the February 20 Assembly polls.

Uttar Pradesh is witnessing bypolls in Azamgarh and Rampur, the 2 Lok Sabha seats thought-about because the bastions of the Opposition Samajwadi Party.

An common of over eight per cent votes had been polled within the first two hours of polling in Uttar Pradesh.

The bypolls to the Azamgarh seat had been necessitated by the resignation of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, who was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly as an MLA within the elections earlier this 12 months.

The Rampur seat was vacated by senior SP chief Azam Khan, who too was elected to the state Assembly. From Rampur, the BJP has fielded Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi, who just lately joined the social gathering, whereas the SP has fielded Asim Raja, handpicked by Khan.

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The Mayawati-led BSP isn’t contesting from Rampur. The Azamgarh seat is seeing a triangular contest amongst BJP’s Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirhua’, a well-known Bhojpuri actor-singer, SP’s Dharmendra Yadav and BSP’s Shah Alam, also referred to as Guddu Jamali.

All 4 meeting constituencies–Azamgarh, Mubarakpur, Sagdi, Gopalpur and Mehnagar–falling on this Lok Sabha seat had been gained by the SP within the current meeting elections.

Tripura is witnessing bypolls to 4 meeting seats of Agartala, Town Bardowali, Surma and Jubarajnagar seats.

The bypolls in Agartala and Town Bardowali constituencies had been necessitated after Sudip Roy Barman and Asish Saha stop as BJP MLAs and joined the Congress in February.

The Surma seat in Dhalai district fell vacant after BJP legislator, Asish Das, was disqualified by Speaker Ratan Chakraborty and bypoll to Jubarajnagar was necessitated following the demise to sitting CPI(M) MLA Ramendra Chandra Debnath.

Chief Minister Saha, who isn’t a member of the meeting, is contesting from Town Bardowali constituency towards Congress nominee Asish Saha. Trinamool Congress and Left Front have fielded candidates in all of the 4 seats.

In Andhra Pradesh, practically 12 per cent voting was recorded within the first two hours of voting within the bypoll to the Atmakuru Assembly seat. The bypoll is being held to fill the emptiness precipitated as a result of demise of then Industries Minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy in February.

His brother Vikram Reddy is the ruling YSR Congress candidate and he’s locked in a contest with BJP’s G Bharat Kumar Yadav.

In Delhi, the voting is being held for the Rajinder Nagar seat.

The two main contenders — the AAP and the BJP — have exuded confidence that their candidates will emerge victorious within the bypoll with an enormous margin.

Six firms of CAPF (Central Armed Police Forces) personnel have been deployed for safety preparations throughout the bypoll necessitated within the wake of AAP chief Raghav Chadha leaving the seat after being elected to the Rajya Sabha just lately.

Chadha was the MLA from the Rajinder Nagar Assembly seat.

While the AAP has exuded confidence that it’ll register a “record victory” within the bypoll and hand out a crushing defeat to the BJP, the saffron social gathering is hopeful of westing the seat from the ruling social gathering that had bagged 62 of the 70 seats within the 2020 Delhi polls.

According to the residents of the world, the AAP authorities’s liquor coverage and water scarcity are among the many fundamental points within the bypoll.

In Jharkhand, bypoll to Mandar meeting seat started amid tight safety preparations.

Voting is going down in 433 polling stations, with 141 cubicles having been declared hyper-sensitive, 218 as delicate, and 55 as weak.

The by-election was necessitated after the disqualification of Bandhu Tirkey as an MLA within the wake of his conviction in a corruption case.

The Congress has fielded Bandhu’s daughter, Shilpa Neha Tirkey, because the frequent candidate of the JMM-led alliance, whereas BJP has nominated former legislator Gangotri Kujur from the seat.

An unbiased candidate Dev Kumar Dhan, with backing from Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), can be within the fray.