Voting begins in by-elections in 14 Assembly, Lok Sabha seats across 7 states

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PM Narendra Modi's demonetisation move, aimed at tackling black money, is likely to have an impact on the by-polls.

 

Voting has begun in constituencies where by-elections are being held in seven states across the country. These are the first elections after the Centre announced the move to demonetise currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000. While candidates in Assam, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal will also be contesting for the Lok Sabha seats, the ones in Arunachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Puducherry will be vying for the Assembly seats. The Election Commission has made required arrangements for the elections to be conducted smoothly. Counting of votes will take place on November 22.

In Tamil Nadu, by-polls are being held in Thanjavur, Aravakurichi and Tiruparakundram seats. Almost 7.54 lakh voters are expected to choose among the 81 candidates from the AIADMK, DMK, BJP and MDMK parties. The results will be announced following the counting of votes that is scheduled to take place on Tuesday.

According to news agency ANI, live webcasting of the voting process in 96 Aravakurichi booths and Thanjavur 275 booths will be monitored. In Puducherry’s Nellithope, Congress leader V Narayanasamy will be contesting against AIADMK nominee Om Shakthi Segar, reports IANS.

In West Bengal, by-polls are being held in the Lok Sabha seats of Tamluk and Cooch Behar and the Assembly constituency of Monteshwar. Cooch Behar has the maximum number of contestants (10), followed by Tamluk (7) and Monteshwar (6). The polling would be carried out using 500 Electronic Voting machines spread across 4,121 polling stations. While the by-polls in the parliamentary constituency of Cooch Behar and Monteswar Assembly seat was necessitated by the death of their previous leaders TMC MP Renuka Sinha and TMC MLA Sajal Panja, the election in Tamluk is taking place due to the resignation of the previous TMC MP Suvendu Adhikari who won the assembly election and joined the state cabinet.

 

In Tripura, by-elections will be held for assembly seats in Khowai and Barjala. Out of the 52 booths in Khowai, 10 have been designated as ‘A’ category while the rest have been put in the ‘B’ category. In Barjala, where there are 48 polling stations, the ratio stands at 1:3.

In Assam, voting is taking place across 2,200 polling stations in the parliamentary constituency of Lakhimpur and assembly constituency of Baithalangso. While the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha seat has been vacant since sitting MP Sarbananda Sonowal resigned to become the chief minister, Baithalangso’s legislator Mansing Rongpi resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP thus resulting in a vacant position.

 

There are five candidates in the fray for Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency from BJP, Congress, CPI and Socialist Unity Centre of India. Former BJP legislator from Doomdooma constituency, Dilip Moran has filed his nomination as an Independent candidate. The by-polls in Baithalangso will witness a contest between three candidates.

Security has been tightened in places with the deployment of central paramilitary forces in sensitive polling stations in Tripura. It is expected that PM Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move, aimed at tackling black money, is likely to have an impact on the by-polls.

BY-ELECTIONS

Lok Sabha seats

*ASSAM: Lakhimpur

*MADHYA PRADESH: Shahdol

*WEST BENGAL: Cooch Behar (ST) and Tamluk.

Assembly seats

*ASSAM: Baithalango(ST)

*ARUNACHAL PRADESH: Hayuliang(ST)

*MADHYA PRADESH: Nepanagar(SC)

*WEST BENGAL: Monteswar

*TAMIL NADU: Thanjavur, Aravakurichi and Tiruparakundram

*TRIPURA: Barjala and Khowai

*PUDUCHERRY: Nellithope

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Would be interesting to see the Outcome...

[Kool_SRG]

By-election watch: all eyes on BJP votes

Leaders of different political parties will keenly watch out for the number of votes BJP candidates secure in the four Lok Sabha and eight assembly constituencies that are electing their representatives on Saturday, which they think, may provide the first indication of the people’s mood following the troubles triggered by the note ban decision.

These constituencies are in Assam (one each in Lok Sabha and assembly), Arunachal Pradesh (one assembly), Madhya Pradesh (one each in Lok Sabha and assembly), West Bengal (two Lok Sabha one assembly), Tamil Nadu (one assembly), Tripura (two assembly) and Puducherry (one assembly).

“I am sure that BJP will win wherever it won or got a good number of votes. The party will also put up a good show in those seats wherever the party did not put up a great show. For example, in Bengal, we are in a very strong position, but after this election, we will become the talk of the town. Our results will prove how the common people have come to support the party after the demonitisation decision, said Dilip Ghosh, the BJP state president.

 

Significantly, BJP lost all 17 seats in an election in an agriculture body in Panvel, Maharashtra where the party is in power.

“The result of four Lok Sabha and eight assembly constituencies will not reflect the total mood of the country and at the same time I would like to say that the demonitisation decision violates article 300A of the Constitution,” Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Trinamool Rajya Sabha member told HT.

Former Bengal Congress president Pradeep Bhattacharya told HT that he was not very sure of the effect on the ruling party fortunes. “The votes will not be held properly, so the effect can’t be properly measured,” said Bhattacharya.

“In Bengal there will be no positive effect of demonitisation on BJP votes. But elsewhere they may gain due to the claim that they are fighting black money,” said CPI(M) state secretariat leader and MLA Sujan Chakraborty.

The four Lok Sabha constituencies where election is going to take place on Saturday are Lakhimpur (Assam), Shadol (Madhya Pradesh), Cooch Behar and Tamluk (West Bengal). BJP won in Lakhimpur and Shadol Lok Sabaha constituencies in the last election.

For Lakhimpur, BJP candidate secured 55.05% votes where in Shadol the BJP candidate got 54.22% votes. For the eight Assembly constituencies where election is going to be held, BJP won only in Nepanagar Assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh.

In the last Lok Sabha election, BJP had put up a poor show in the three constituencies in Bengal. It got nearly 5.5% votes in Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency, about 19% votes in the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha constituency, and 9% in the Monteswar assembly constituency.

 

BJP is the ruling party in the states of MP and Assam. While BJP leaders are confident to gather nationwide support in the by-elections, Congress is confident that BJP has to face the wrath of the commoners in the by-election.

“People were facing grave problems with this dictatorial order. Both the common man and farmers were forced to stand in long queues. Farmers don’t have enough money to purchase fertilizers and seeds,” Madhya Pradesh Congress president Arun Yadav remarked earlier.

“For us, it is indeed a litmus test,” said a senior state leader of BJP.