Assembly bypolls: High voter turnout in Kerala, Tripura, West Bengal seats; moderate in UP, Uttarakhand

High voter turnout was recorded in most of the six assembly constituencies in seven states where the by-election was held on Tuesday.

The counting of votes is on September 8 for the by-election - seen as a litmus test for the opposition alliance I.N.D.I.A against the BJP-led NDA ahead of the assembly polls in five states later this year and the 2023 Lok Sabha election.

In Dhanpur and Boxanagar seats in Tripura, where the Congress had extended support to the CPI(M), the average turnout was around 76 per cent. Six persons were injured in a stray incidents of violence in the northeastern state.

In Dhupguri in West Bengal and Puthuppally in Kerala, where the I.N.D.I.A bloc constituents were up against each other, the voting was around 76 per cent and nearly 73 per cent respectively.

The by-election saw the I.N.D.I.A alliance also putting up a united front in the Ghosi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, where the voting was moderate at around 50.30 per cent, and in Jharkhand’s Dumri where a total of 64.84 per cent of 2.98 lakh voters exercised their franchise

Uttarakhand's Bageshwar, where the main contest is between the BJP and the Congress, saw 55.44 per cent voting.

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).

In Uttar Pradesh, the Ghosi seat fell vacant after the resignation of Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA and OBC leader Dara Singh Chauhan, who rejoined the BJP.

While the ruling BJP-led NDA has fielded Chauhan, Samajwadi Party candidate Sudhakar Singh has got the support of the Congress and Left parties. Chauhan was a minister in the previous BJP government headed by Yogi Adityanath. He resigned from the Council of Ministers on January 12, 2022 and switched to the SP.

The Akhilesh Yadav-led party has alleged misuse of official machinery and has written to the Election Commission on the matter. It claimed that Muslim voters were being prevented from exercising their franchise in some places. Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak rejected the SP's allegations, claiming that the opposition party was fearing defeat in the bypoll.

The Dhupguri assembly constituency in north Bengal witnessed a three-cornered contest among the TMC, BJP and the Congress-supported CPI(M).

While the TMC had won the seat in 2016, it was snatched by the BJP in 2021.

Polling was held amid tight security across 260 booths in the constituency. Central paramilitary forces were present at all the booths, an election official said.

Two BJP leaders including an MLA, who are not residents of the constituency, were found in a party office. One of them, the BJP district president, had to leave as he could not show any document allowing him entry into Dhupguri during the voting.

Police said six persons were injured when they were allegedly attacked by some villagers at Mohanbhog in Dhanpur Assembly constituency in Tripura.

The villagers set afire five motorcycles, triggering tension, but the situation was brought under control, a police officer said, adding that the injured have been admitted to hospital and are out of danger.

"I urge the people to maintain peace during the polling and repeat the precedent of peaceful voting in last assembly elections," Chief Minister Manik Saha said in a Facebook post.

Tipra Motha, the main opposition, and Congress have stayed away. The Tripura Pradesh Congress had on Sunday urged people to vote for opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A candidates in the two seats.

BJP's Tafajjal Hussain, who unsuccessfully contested the Assembly election in February, is fighting against CPI(M)’s Mizan Hussain in minority-dominated Boxanagar constituency, still considered the Left party's stronghold.

Dhanpur, once a strong bastion of the communists, is heading for a direct fight between BJP's Bindu Debnath and CPI(M)’s Kaushik Debnath.

The BJP won the Dhanpur seat for the first time in the assembly poll held seven months ago. The by-election to the Boxanagar constituency was necessitated by the death of CPI(M) MLA Samsul Haque.

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

"The election passed off peacefully across 199 polling booths in Giridih and 174 booths in Bokaro district. No report of violence or law and order situation was reported from anywhere," Giridih district election officer Naman Priyesh Lakra told PTI.

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

The seat has turned out to be a prestigious one for both alliances amid Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) claiming that the I.N.D.I.A bloc will begin its victory journey from Dumri, while the NDA exuded confidence that it is all set to snatch the seat from JMM.

The I.N.D.I.A 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.

The by-election was necessitated following the death of JMM MLA Jagarnath Mahto, former education minister, in April. Mahto had been representing the seat since 2004.

However, the Congress and the ruling Left took on each other at the Puthuppally bypoll in Kerala, with the opposition party in the state banking on 'anti-incumbency' and the late Oommen Chandy's legacy.

Intermittent rainfall did not deter voters from exercising their franchise.

The UDF level 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.

The Congress-led UDF opposition has fielded Chandy's son, Chandy Oommen, to benefit from the sympathy wave following the former CM's death.

On the other hand, the ruling Left once again decided to go with DYFI leader Thomas who had unsuccessfully contested from the segment in 2016 and 2021 against the late Chandy.

The BJP has fielded its Kottayam district president G Lijinlal.

The BJP and the Congress are in a straight contest in Uttarakhand.

Bageshwar District Magistrate Anuradha Paul said 55.44 per cent voting was recorded in the bypoll. The voter turnout for the seat in 2022 assembly polls was 60.01 per cent, she said.

Polling was peaceful with no untoward incident reported from anywhere, she said.

People, including women, in large numbers began queuing up outside polling booths from 6 a.m.

The ruling BJP has fielded Parvati Das, the wife of Chandan Das who won four consecutive elections since 2007. His death necessitated the bypoll.

In July, the opposition alliance formed to take on the ruling BJP-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections announced that it would be called the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).