Counting of votes has begun for bypolls to 58 assembly seats in 11 States.
In Madhya Pradesh, counting of votes for bypolls to 28 Assembly seats began amid tight security and Corona protocol. The results are expected by this evening.
According to the instructions of the Election Commission, the counting of votes began with the postal ballots. A total of 46 thousand 619 postal ballots have been received in these 28 seats in Madhya Pradesh. The maximum 3 thousand 675 postal ballots have been received in Mehgaon assembly constituency of Bhind district while the lowest 491 received in Karera seat in Shivpuri district.
Meanwhile, maximum 32 rounds of counting will be performed in Gwalior East Assembly constituency and minimum 18 rounds of counting will be in Anuppur Assembly seat. After counting of all votes, the voting slips of randomly selected 5-5 VVPat machines will also be calculated and verified in every assembly seat. There are currently 201 MLAs in 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly. Of these, 107 are from BJP, 87 from Congress, two from BSP, one from SP and four independent MLAs.
A total of 29 seats are vacant, out of which by-elections on 28 seats have been held. After the by-elections, any party will need 115 MLAs to remain in power. The BJP needed eight MLAs to stay in power while the Congress required 28 MLAs to return to power.
In Uttar Pradesh, the counting of the votes for seven assembly seats, where byelections were held last week, started at 8 this morning amid tight security. An average of over 53 per cent voters exercised their franchise on November 3 to decide the electoral fortune of 88 candidates in Naugaon Sadat, Tundla, Bangarmau, Bulandshahr, Deoria, Ghatampur and Malhani assembly seats. Barring Malhani, which was with the Samajwadi Party, the other seats were held by Bhartiya Janta Party.
Due to Covid protocols only 7 tables are allowed in one counting hall. In Bulandshahr and Malhani counting is taking place in 3 halls while at rest of the 5 seats it is going on in 2 halls.The seven bypoll seats include Naugaon Sadat of Amroha district which fell vacant after the death of state cabinet minister and former cricketer Chetan Chauhan. From here the fate of her wife and BJP candidate Sangita Chauhan will be decided today.
The Ghatampur bypoll in Kanpur Nagar district was necessitated due to the death of state minister Kamal Rani Varun. Both the ministers died of COVID-19. The Tundla seat fell vacant after its MLA, S P Singh Baghel, was elected to the Lok Sabha, while the Bangarmau seat in Unnao fell vacant after the conviction of former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in a rape case.
The bypolls to the Bulandshahr, Deoria and Malhani seats were necessitated due to the deaths of sitting MLAs Virendra Singh Sirohi and Janmejay Singh from BJP and Parasnath Yadav from Samajwadi Party respectively.
In Gujarat, the counting of votes for bye-elections to 8 assembly seats began a short while ago. The election commission has made special arrangements in view of the prevailing Covid19 pandemic.
Counting of votes has begun at 8 am and results are expected by noon. The fate of 81 candidates including former minister and BJP candidate Kiritsinh Rana will be clear in today’s counting. Counting of votes for Abdasa, Limbdi, Morbi, Karjan and Dang Assembly constituency are being held at the respective district headquarters.
While, the counting of votes for Dhari, Gadhada and Kaprada seats are being held in the same constituency. 25 Counting halls and 97 counting tables at 8 different places are being used after complete sanitization. The arrangements for the masks, face shields and hand sanitizers have been made for the counting staff. Ruling BJP has nothing to lose in this bye-elections as all 8 seats were held by Congress earlier.