A poor turnout of voters was recorded in the by-elections to two Uttar Pradesh assembly seats – Suar Tanda in Rampur district and Chhanbey in Sonbhadra district – on Wednesday.
The voters’ turnout in Suar Tanda was 42 per cent and in Chhanbey 40 per cent.
The polling was peaceful and no untoward incident was reported from both the constituencies.
The chief electoral officer of UP said the voter turnout was likely to increase slightly at the time of final tabulation of the data. He said the voting started at 7 am and concluded at 6 pm.
The Samajwadi Party, in a memorandum addressed to the Election Commission of India and submitted to the chief electoral officer of UP, alleged intimidation of voters in Suar Tanda constituency in Rampur district, a citadel of SP strongman Mohammad Azam Khan.
The SP alleged that Muslim voters were prevented from casting their votes by the police.
The bypoll in Suar Tanda has been caused by the disqualification of Abdullah Azam, son of Mohammad Azam Khan, the former SP MP.
In a tweet on its official Twitter handle, the SP charged, "In Khempur, Rasoolpur, Faridpur, Samodia in the Suar seat of Rampur, police are preventing voters from voting. Voters are returned from polling booths. The Election Commission should take cognisance and ensure fair elections.”
In a separate tweet, it alleged that cabinet minister Ashish Patel (of Apna Dal-Sonelal) was calling SP workers and threatening them to affect polls.
Officials, however, denied any discrepancies and said free and fair polls were being ensured in the state.
There is a direct contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party led coalition and the opposition Samajwadi Party in the bypolls. A total of 774 polling booths were set up by the Election Commission of India at 492 polling centres in the two constituencies, while there are 6.62 lakh eligible voters.
A total of 14 candidates are in the fray –six in Suar and eight in Chhanbey.
The Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party has kept away from the bypolls, while the Congress has fielded its candidate only in Chhanbey.
The Suar seat in Rampur district is in focus as it was held by Abdullah Azam Khan, son of senior SP leader Azam Khan, before it was declared vacant on February 13 after a Moradabad court sentenced Abdullah Azam to two years in jail in a 15-year-old case.
In the previous assembly also, the Allahabad High Court had in 2020 set aside Abdullah Azam’s election for not declaring his correct age in the affidavit.
In the 2022 UP assembly election, Abdullah Azam Khan had defeated Haidar Ali Khan of Apna Dal (Sonelal) in the Suar constituency by a margin of over 61,000 votes. This time, the SP has fielded Anuradha Chauhan from the seat and Apna Dal (Sonelal) has fielded Shafeek Ahmed Ansari.
The Chhanbey seat in Mirzapur fell vacant following the death of Apna Dal (Sonelal) MLA Rahul Prakash Kol in February. The party has fielded Kol's wife, Rinki Kol, while Kirti Kol is contesting as the SP candidate. Eight candidates are in the fray for this seat.
The counting of votes will be taken up on May 13.
In the 403-member Uttar Pradesh assembly, the ruling BJP has 255 MLAs, and its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) and the NISHAD Party have 11 and six legislators, respectively. The SP has 109 MLAs while its ally the Rashtriya Lok Dal has nine. The Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party has six MLAs, the Congress and the Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) have two MLAs each and the Bahujan Samaj Party has one member in the assembly.
