India bypolls: Voting concludes without major incident, results on September 8

India witnessed voting for assembly elections across even states on Tuesday (September 5). As per officials of Election Commission of India (ECI), voting in the states of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Kerala, Tripura and Uttarakhand took place without any major untoward incident.

The counting of votes is scheduled to take place on September 8. The bypolls are being seen as a litmus test for the opposition party alliance INDIA against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Assembly polls in five Indian states are due to take place later this year. The general elections are due next year.

Voters turnout in Dhanpur and Boxanagar in Tripura, where Congress had declared support to the CPI(M), was around 76 per cent. There was a stray incident of violence in which six people were injured.

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INDIA bloc constituents were up against each other in Dhupguri in West Bengal and Puthuppally in Kerala. The turnout in these constituencies was around 76 per cent and nearly 73 per cent, respectively.

In the Ghosi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, the INDIA alliance had put up a united front. The voter turnout in Ghosi was around 50.30 per cent.

In Jharkhand's Dumri, 64.84 per cent of its 2.98 lakh voters exercised their franchise.

Bageshwar in Uttarakhand, where the main contest is between the BJP and the Congress, the voter turnout was 55.44 per cent.

Out of the seven seats, three (Dhanpur, Bageshwar and Dhupguri), were held by the BJP and one each by the SP (Ghosi), CPI(M) (Boxanagar), JMM (Dumri) and the Congress (Puthuppally).

The Ghosi seat in Uttar Pradesh fell vacant after the resignation of Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Dara Singh Chauhan. He later joined the BJP.

Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the official machinery was being misused and complained to the Election Commission that Muslim voters were being prevented from exercising their franchise in some places. UP's Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak rejected the claim and said the opposition was scared of losing the election.

In Dhupguri constituency (West Bengal) there was a three-way fight between the Trinamool Congress (TMC), BJP and Congress-supported CPI(M). TMC won the seat in 2016 but BJP clinched victory in 2021.

Dhanpur in Tripura witnessed a violent incident in which six persons were injured. It was once a strong communist bastion. It is witnessing a direct fight between BJP's Bindu Debnath and CPI(M)’s Kaushik Debnath.

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In Boxanagar (Tripura), still considered a leftist stronghold, BJP's Tafajjal Hussain is fighting against CPI(M)'s Mizan Hussain.

In Jharkhand’s Dumri, INDIA bloc candidate Bebi Devi is locked in a direct contest with NDA candidate Yashoda Devi.

The polling was held amidst tight security in 373 polling stations, 200 of which were identified to be Maoist-affected areas.

The INDIA bloc includes 28 parties including the Congress, NCP faction led by Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT), TMC, JMM, AAP, DMK, NC, PDP, CPI(M), CPI, RJD, SP and RLD.

In Kerala, Congress and the ruling Left lashed out at each other during Puthuppally bypoll.

The Congress-led alliance alleged that there was slow polling in some select booths and people had to wait for several hours to vote. LDF candidate Jaick C Thomas said if there has been any delay in the polling process in some booths then it should be investigated.

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