5 Assembly bypolls in 4 states largely peaceful; Nilambur in Kerala records 73 pc turnout

Ludhiana/Ahmedabad, Jun 19 (PTI) Bypolls were held in five Assembly segments across Punjab, West Bengal, Gujarat and Kerala on Thursday, with the Nilambur seat in Kerala registering a voter turnout of 73.26 per cent, and Ludiana West in Punjab recording a polling percentage of 51.33 per cent.

The polling that commenced at 7 am and concluded at 6 pm was largely peaceful, with the exception of a few isolated incidents, officials said.

While the deaths of the incumbent MLAs necessitated the bypolls in one seat each in Gujarat, West Bengal and Punjab, the resignation of two legislators led to the polling in Kerala and another seat in Gujarat.

The counting of votes for all the seats will be taken up on June 23.

Nilambur in Kerala saw a steady turnout through the day, recording a turnout of 73.26 per cent, according to the latest figures released by the Election Commission, which said the numbers might be updated later.

In the 2021 assembly polls, the turnout in Nilambur was 75.20 per cent.

People came out in good numbers at the 263 polling booths across the constituency, which has over 2.32 lakh voters.

Among the 10 contestants, the key contenders are ruling LDF's pick M Swaraj, Aryadan Shoukath of the Congress-led UDF, TMC state convenor and Independent nominee P V Anvar and Mohan George of the BJP-led NDA.

Anvar, whose resignation as the MLA from Nilambur necessitated the bypoll, claimed that neither of the three fronts -- UDF, LDF and NDA -- discussed local issues like wild-animal attacks during their campaigns.

Presently the state convener of the TMC, Anvar resigned as the MLA after severing ties with the CPI(M)-led LDF over certain allegations levelled by him against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his close aides.

The final voter list includes 1,13,613 men, 1,18,760 women, and 8 transgender persons, with 7,787 first-time voters, 373 overseas voters, and 324 service voters.

In Gujarat, the Visavadar seat in Junagadh district recorded a poll percentage of 56.89, and Kadi in Mehsana district saw a voter turnout of 57.90 per cent, officials said.

The state government declared a public holiday on Thursday in both the constituencies.

The BJP, Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) fielded their candidates in the two seats.

The Visavadar seat was lying vacant since December 2023 after then AAP legislator Bhupendra Bhayani resigned and joined the BJP.

The Kadi seat, reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates, fell vacant on February 4 following the death of BJP MLA Karsan Solanki.

Till 5 pm, 41 complaints were received from citizens through the C-Vigil app, out of which 34 were resolved within 100 minutes, officials said.

In Visavadar, BJP candidate Kirit Patel and Congress nominee Nitin Ranpariya cast their votes in the early hours.

The AAP has fielded its former Gujarat president, Gopal Italia, from Visavadar. He is not registered as a voter in the constituency.

Despite its near-total dominance in the state, the BJP has not won the Visavadar seat since 2007. Party leaders are hopeful of overcoming the 18-year jinx this time.

In the 2022 Assembly polls, Bhayani defeated BJP's Harshad Ribadiya, a Congress turncoat and former MLA, by 7,063 votes.

The BJP has fielded Rajendra Chavda from Kadi, while the Congress has given ticket to former MLA Ramesh Chavda.

Chavda won the seat in 2012, but lost it to the BJP's Karsanbhai Solanki in 2017.

Like Visavadar, Kadi will also witness a three-way fight, with the AAP fielding Jagdish Chavda.

In the 182-member Gujarat Assembly, the BJP has 161 legislators, the Congress 12 and the AAP four. While one seat is with the Samajwadi Party, two are with independents.

The bypoll to the Ludhiana West Assembly seat in Punjab recorded a turnout of 51.33 per cent, a sharp drop from the 64 per cent polling registered in the 2022 Assembly elections, officials said.

The polling, which remained peaceful, sealed the fate of 14 candidates in the fray for the urban constituency, which fell vacant after the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January.

The bypoll's outcome will throw light on the popularity of the AAP regime's policies and programmes among the urban voters of the constituency.

Stakes are also high for the Congress, the main opposition party that won the seat six times in the past. Prestige is at stake for the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) as well.

AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora exercised his franchise along with his family members in the morning, and later paid obeisance at a gurdwara, a temple and the Dargah Pir in Phillaur.

Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu, BJP nominee Jiwan Gupta and SAD's Parupkar Singh Ghuman also cast their votes.

A total of 1,75,469 voters were eligible to exercise their franchise, including 85,371 women and 10 belonging to the third gender.

The voting process was monitored real-time from the integrated command and control centre at the district administrative complex. A total of 235 CCTV cameras were installed at the polling stations, officials said.

At Kaliganj in West Bengal's Nadia district, a voter turnout of 69.85 per cent was recorded till 5 pm.

"Polling has been peaceful. There was no report of any incident from anywhere in and around the constituency. Till 5 pm, the polling was 69.85 per cent," an election official told PTI.

Sources said the polling percentage may go up as there were queues outside the polling booths.

The bypoll was necessitated by the death of Trinamool Congress MLA Nasiruddin Ahamed in February. The ruling party has fielded his daughter, Alifa Ahamed, for the bypoll.

The BJP has nominated Ashis Ghosh for the contest, while Congress candidate Kabil Uddin Shaikh is in the fray with the support of the CPI(M).

Fourteen companies of central forces were deployed across the constituency to ensure free-and-fair polling.

Minor tension was reported from a few booths.

At Chandghar Adarsha Vidyapith's booth No. 56, the Congress alleged that its polling agent was forcibly removed by Trinamool workers, an allegation denied by the ruling party.

BJP nominee Ghosh alleged that officials deliberately applied indelible ink on his middle finger instead of the index finger under the "insistence" of Trinamool agents.

"First, they missed putting the ink on my finger when I went to vote. Then, after I noticed it and returned, they deliberately marked my middle finger. This is a pre-planned political conspiracy by the TMC," Ghosh alleged.

Poll officials confirmed that no rules were violated but said they have sought a report from the district magistrate regarding the incident.

The Election Commission said webcasting was done at all but one polling station of the five seats.

A total of 1,354 polling stations were set up for the bypolls and webcasting was held at 1,353 of them, the poll authority said.

This was also the first time that the EC provided a mobile-phone deposit facility to the voters.

The deposit centres were set up outside the polling stations. So far, no such facility was available and some voters hid phones in their clothes and carried those inside the polling stations, which is against rules. PTI TEAM ARI