Counting of votes for Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha bypolls to begin at 8 am on June 26

The bypolls were held on June 23, with Azamgarh recording a voter turnout of 49.43% and Rampur 41.39%

The counting of votes for the by-elections held to the Rampur and Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituencies will begin at 8 am on Sunday, a senior official said.

The bypolls were held on June 23, with Azamgarh recording a voter turnout of 49.43 per cent and Rampur 41.39 per cent.

The counting will begin at 8 am on Sunday, a senior official posted at the office of the chief electoral officer of UP told PTI.

The bypolls were necessitated by resignations of the Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and party leader Azam Khan from Azamgarh and Rampur seats, respectively.

Both leaders quit as Lok Sabha MPs following their election to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly in the elections held earlier this year.

Over 35 lakh people were eligible to vote in the bypolls to decide the fate of 19 candidates.

In Rampur, the BJP fielded Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi, who recently joined the party. Asim Raja, handpicked by Azam Khan is the SP candidate. The Mayawati-led BSP is not contesting from Rampur.

The Azamgarh seat saw a triangular contest among BJP's Dinesh Lal Yadav 'Nirhua', a Bhojpuri actor-singer, SP's Dharmendra Yadav and BSP's Shah Alam, also known as Guddu Jamali.

The Samajwadi Party's Rampur candidate on Friday had demanded fair counting.

"The counting should be fair and round-wise announcements of the counting should be done," Asim Raja had told reporters in Rampur.