Bypolls in 4 states: Counting of votes underway; TMC takes early lead in West Bengal

Elections to seven local body wards on Jan 21

Kolkata: The counting of votes is underway for bypolls in several states namely West Bengal, Chattisgarh, Bihar and Maharashtra on Saturday. Learn all the latest updates here:

West Bengal

TMC candidates Shatrughan, Babul Supriyo ahead

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress candidates have taken the lead over their rivals in both the Asansol Lok Sabha constituency and the Ballygunge assembly segment, after initial rounds of counting for by-polls to the two seats, election officials said Saturday.

In Ballygunge, Babul Supriyo is ahead of CPI(M)'s Saira Shah Halim by 4,676 votes, after three rounds of counting at David Hare Training College here, they said.

Former Union minister and popular yesteryear actor Shatrughan Sinha is also leading by 10,989 votes over BJP's Agnimitra Paul, the official said.

The by-polls, which took place on April 12, were necessitated as Supriyo resigned as the MP of Asansol after switching over to the TMC from the BJP, while state minister Subrata Mukherjee, who represented Ballygunge, died last year.

The counting exercise began at 8 am amid tight security.

Chhattisgarh

Congress leading in bypoll to Khairagarh Assembly seat

Counting of votes for the bypoll to Khairagarh Assembly seat in Chhattisgarh began on Saturday morning and as per the early trends, the Congress candidate is leading by a margin of 1,242 votes, officials said.

Both the ruling Congress and opposition BJP in the state are eyeing to win the seat that falls in the Naxal-hit Rajnandgaon district, where by-election was necessitated after Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) MLA  Devvrat Singh died in November last year.

"The counting of votes in the bypoll held on April 12 in Khairagarh seat began at 8 am at the godwon of state seeds development corporation here," a poll official said.

As per the early trends, Yashoda Verma of the Congress was leading by a margin of 1,242 votes against his nearest rival Komal Janghel of the BJP after three rounds of counting, he said.

Verma secured 4,436 votes, while Janghel bagged 3,194 votes after the initial rounds of counting. JCC (J) candidate Narendra Soni has secured 49 votes, he said.

The voter turnout in the bypoll for the seat located in state's Naxal-affected Rajnandgaon district, was 77.88 per cent.

Postal ballots were first taken up for counting followed by votes cast in the EVMs, the official said, adding that the entire process will be done in 21 rounds.

A total of 10 contestants were in the fray, but political experts feel that this time the fight is virtually between the ruling Congress and opposition BJP as the JCC (J) has lost its appeal after the demise of Ajit Jogi in 2020.

Devvrat Singh, who belonged to the erstwhile royal family of Khairagarh, quit Congress in 2017 and joined former JCC (J) the next year. He contested the 2018 Assembly polls on the JCC(J) ticket from Khairagarh. He defeated BJP candidate Komal Janghel by a thin margin of 870 votes.

This time, the BJP has once again fielded Komal Janghel, a former MLA, for the bypoll, while Yashoda Verma, the Khairagarh block unit chief of Congress, is the ruling party's nominee.  Janghel and Verma both belong to the Lodhi caste, a numerically powerful OBC community in the Khairagarh area.

However, stakes are high for the ruling Congress, as it is fighting to retain this seat, which was once considered as its bastion. Congress has promised the people to make Khairagarh a district if it wins the seat.

In the 2018 assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, the Congress registered a landslide victory winning 68 seats in the 90-member House decimating the BJP to 15. The JCC (J) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had bagged 5 and 2 seats respectively. Subsequently, the state witnessed bypolls to three assembly seats which were won by Congress, improving its tally to 70 in the assembly.

Bihar

Counting underway for Bochahan by-election

Patna: Counting is underway for the by-election to the Bochahan assembly seat in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, officials said on Saturday.

A total of 2.90 lakh voters will decide the fate of 13 candidates, three of them women, in the by-election held on April 12.

The counting exercise began at 8 am amid tight security, they said.

By-poll to the seat was necessitated by the death of MLA Musafir Paswan, who had won on the ticket of Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) of Bollywood set designer-turned-politician Mukesh Sahani.

Sahani, who initially wanted to field the deceased MLA's son Amar, recently lost his ministerial berth, and subsequently the trust of his prospective candidate. Amar jumped ship and is now in the fray as the candidate of the RJD, which his father had defeated to win the seat.

The VIP subsequently fielded Gita Devi, whose father Ramai Ram was the RJD candidate in the 2020 assembly polls.

The BJP, the former benefactor of Sahani which now seeks to prove a point after having got his scalp, has fielded Baby Kumari who enjoys the image of a giant killer in the constituency.

She had won the seat in 2015, contesting as an Independent, defeating Ramai Ram who had represented Bochahan multiple times and on tickets of various parties.

Also in the fray are the Congress, four Independents and candidates of lesser parties, including AIMIM of Asaduddin Owaisi.

Maharashtra

Counting of votes underway for bypoll to Kolhapur North Assembly seat

Pune: The counting of votes for the bypoll to Kolhapur North Assembly constituency began at 8 am on Saturday amid tight security arrangements, district officials said.

The by-election, necessitated following the death of sitting Congress MLA Chandrakant Jadhav due to COVID-19 in December 2021, was held on April 12 in which 61.19 per cent voter turnout was recorded.

"The counting of votes began on Saturday morning amid adequate security arrangements," an official said.

There were 15 candidates in the fray, and the main fight was between the Congress, one of the constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state, and the opposition BJP.

Jayashree Jadhav, the wife of the late MLA, is the Congress candidate, while the BJP had fielded Satyajit Kadam.

(With inputs from agencies)

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