Counting of votes for bypolls to 11 assembly constituencies of Uttar Pradesh began at 8 am on Thursday.

All preparations for the smooth counting have been completed, the election office here said.

On Monday, 47.05 per cent voters had exercised their franchise in the bypolls, mostly necessitated after sitting legislators got elected to the Lok Sabha in May.

Of the 11 seats where bypolls were held, eight were held by the BJP and one by its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal). Two other seats were shared by the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.

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The Ghosi seat fell vacant following the resignation of sitting MLA Phagu Chauhan after he was appointed as Bihar Governor.

The BJP, BSP, SP and the Congress fielded their candidates on all the 11 seats.

According to the office of the state chief electoral officer, 109 candidates are in the fray for the bypolls to the assembly seats of Gangoh, Rampur, Iglas (SC), Lucknow Cantonment, Govind Nagar, Manikpur, Pratapgarh, Zaidpur (SC), Jalalpur, Balha (SC) and Ghosi.

In the assembly, the BJP currently has 302 members, followed by the SP (47) and the BSP (18). BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) has eight legislators, while the Congress has seven MLAs in the House.