Amid reports of violence at a few places, Madhya Pradesh recorded 66.37 per cent voter turnout in the crucial bypolls for 28 Assembly seats. The highest polling percentage was recorded 83.69 per cent for two seats in Nagaland, followed by Telangana 81.44 per cent.
According to the Election Commission, the poll percentage was 51.57 per cent in Uttar Pradesh, 51.3 per cent in Karnataka, 68.08 per cent in Odisha, 81.44 per cent in Telangana, 62.51 per cent in Jharkhand, 68 per cent in Haryana, 57.98 per cent in Gujarat and 71.99 per cent in Chhattisgarh.
In Madhya Pradesh, A total of 355 candidates, including 12 Ministers, are in the fray in these bypolls. The stakes are high for Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, former CM Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Narendra Singh Tomar in the bypolls.
Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh questioned the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in India, saying the device is prone to hacking. According to the EC, the average voting percentage in the 2018 Assembly polls in these 28 constituencies, most of them in the Gwalior-Chambal region, was 72.93.
In Morena district, Congress and BJP supporters clashed at the Jatavara polling booth and an unidentified person fired a bullet during the incident. In Bhind, Collector Virendra Singh Rawat said they received a report about gunshots being fired near a booth in Sondha village under Mehgaon Assembly constituency. MP’s chief electoral officer said 63 control units, 65 ballot units and 196 VVPAT (voter-verifiable paper audit trail) machines were changed during mock polling conducted before the beginning of voting.
Voters turnout for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly by-elections for seven seats crossed 51.57 per cent amid an allegation of bogus voting for Naugaon Sadat seat in Amroha and poll boycott in Tundla. Six of these seven seats were held by the Bharatiya Janata Party, while the Malhani seat in Jaunpur district was with the Samajwadi Party. BJP candidate Sangeeta Chauhan for Naugaon Sadat seat in Amroha district alleged “fake voting in her constituency and demanded that those wearing the burqa should remove the face cover to enable poll officials ascertain their identities.
In Gujarat’s Karjan Assembly Constituency in Vadodara, the Returning Officer has set up an inquiry after Congress candidate Kiritsinh Jadeja accused rival BJP candidate Akshay Patel of distributing cash for votes. The complaint, filed by Jadeja’s election agent Upendrasinh Rana, includes two videos purportedly showing ‘BJP workers’ distributing cash to voters ahead of the polling.
Apart from 28 seats in Madhya Pradesh, eight in Gujarat, seven in Uttar Pradesh, two each in Odisha, Nagaland, Karnataka, and Jharkhand, and one seat each in Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Haryana is going to the polls. The bypolls are politically significant for both the ruling BJP as well as the Opposition parties and are being seen by many as a test for public approval of the record of the Government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in its second term.