The counting of votes for the by-elections to 1 Lok Sabha constituency and 3 Assembly seats is being done today. The voting held on September 30th saw a turnout of around 65% in 3 assembly seats – Raigaon, Prithvipur and Jobat, and nearly 64% in the Khandwa Lok Sabha constituency. The ruling BJP is facing a straight contest from the opposition Congress on all these seats where a total of 48 candidates are in the fray. The BJP accused the Congress of indulging in malpractices while the opposition party hit back, saying the ruling party was levelling such “false” allegations as it is staring at defeat in the bypolls.
The elections were held on October 30th and it saw some high-stakes battle between the Congress and the BJP. The assembly by-elections which saw a high turnout were held in 5seats in Assam, 4 in West Bengal, 3 each in Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, 2 each in Bihar, Karnataka and Rajasthan and 1 seat each is in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Mizoram and Telangana.
The seats where Lok Sabha by-elections were held are Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Mandi in Himachal Pradesh and Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh. In all the 3 Lok Sabha constituencies, the sitting members had died. The bye-election to the Khandwa parliamentary constituency was necessitated following the death of BJP member Nand Kumar Singh Chauhan while in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, it was due to the demise of Independent Lok Sabha member Mohan Delkar. In Mandi, Pratibha Singh is pitted against BJP’s Khushal Singh Thakur, a Kargil war hero.
In Meghalaya, former national footballer Eugeneson Lyngdoh is contesting the election from Mawphlang on a United Democratic Party (UDP) ticket. He is up against former Congress MLA Kennedy C Khyriem and a sitting member of the district council (MDC) from the NPP, Lamphrang Blah. In Haryana, Chautala, son of INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala, is contesting against Congress nominee Pawan Beniwal and BJP-JP candidate Gobind Kanda, the brother of Haryana Lokhit Party chief and legislator Gopal Kanda.