Bypolls: Gujarat sees 9.12 pc turnout in 2 hours, 8.02pc in Bihar Phase II

Voting for bypolls in eight Assembly seats in Gujarat was underway on Tuesday. According to the Election Commission, a voting percentage of 9.12 was registered in the first two hours of polling.

The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Gujarat office has set up a control room at Gandhinagar Sachivalaya complex for the ongoing by-elections. As per the information available, just within 2 hours of polling, which began at 7 a.m. there was an enthusiastic voter turnout.

Elections for the eight seats were necessitated due to the resignation of the Congress legislators, 5 of whom defected to the BJP.

A total of 81 candidates are fighting for the eight seats of Abdasa, Kaprada, Karjan, Gadhada, Morbi, Dhari, Limdi and Dangs.

There is a direct fight between BJP's Kiritsinh Rana and Congress's Chetanbhai Khachar for the Limdi seat. 14 independents are contesting for the Limdi seat as also the Akhil Bhartiya Rajarya party's Dilipbhai Parmar is also a candidate there. The Limdi seat was vacated by Congress's Somabhai Ganda.

BJP's Brijesh Merja, who had resigned from this seat after leaving the Congress, is fighting Congress's Jayantibhai Patel in Morbi. There are 12 independents in the fray, including All India Majlis-E-Inqilab-E-Millat party's Husainbhai Bhatti, who can cut a good chunk of vote share.

Just like Morbi, there are 12 candidates in the field for the seat of Gadhada, an SC seat. Here also there is direct fight between BJP's Atmaram Parmar and Congress's Mohanbhai Solanki. The seat was vacated by Praveen Maru from the Congress who had defeated BJP's Atmaram Parmar.

BJP's J.V. Kakadiya, who resigned from the Dhari seat from the Congress, is fighting against Congress' Surajbhai Kotadiya. There are a total of 12 candidates in the fray on this seat.

For the Abdasa seat, the Congress has fielded Shantilal Sanghani against BJP's Pradyumansinh Jadeja, who resigned from the seat. Other than that Bahujan Mukti party's Aqub Mutva, Bharatiya Jan Parishad party's Ramji Maheshwari and Bahujan Maha party's Bhimjibhai Meghwal are contesting, besides five independents.

A total  of nine candidates are fighting for the Karjan seat, where five independents are in fray against BJP's Akshay Patel, Congress's Kiritsinh Jadeja, Rashtriya Jan Kranti party's Dineshbhai Patel and Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP)'s Mahendra Vasava. The seat was left by Congress' Akshay Patel.

Similar to Karjan, nine candidates are fighting for the ST seat of Dangs, where six independent candidates are fighting against BJP's Vijaybhai Patel, Congress's Suryakant Gavit and BTP's Babubhai Gamit. The seat was vacated by Mangal Gavit from the Congress.

There are only four candidates contesting for the ST seat of Kaprada. Two independents are contesting against BJP's Jeetu Chaudhary and Congress' Babu Patel (Vartha). This seat was vacated by Congress' Jeetu Chaudhary.

Meanwhile, the second phase of polling for the 94 seats in Bihar on Tuesday was witnessing a slow start as the Election Commission registered 8.02 per cent polling  till 9 a.m. even as the leaders were urging the voters to come out in large numbers.

Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar cast their votes and both urged the people to come out in large numbers and produce numbers larger than the last elections.

In the first two hours of polling, the maximum voting was seen in West Champaran with 9.68 per cent, followed by 9.61 per cent in Nalanda and 9.51 per cent in Patna district. The lowest voting turnout was in the flood-hit Khagaria and Darbhanga districts with 5.12 and 5.79 per cent respectively.

Other districts such as Sheohar has 9.05 per cent, Sitamadhi 8.27, Madhubani 6.99, East Champaran 6.79, Muzaffarpur 9.08, Gopalganj 9.84, Siwan 6.76, Sharan 7.04, Vaishali 7.85, Samastipur 9.38, Begusarai 7.66 and Bhagalpur 7.61 per cent.

Some of the top leaders, including Nikhil Anand, the chief spokesperson of the BJP and candidate from Maner constituency has cast his vote at the Jeevrakhan Tola high school in Maner. He was looking confident of winning this seat.

"Being a native of Maner, it is my home turf and I am quite confident of winning the election. We have the blessings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and our NDA government has done so many works in public welfare. Our party will do a great show in this election and we will form the government in Bihar again," Anand told IANS.

Grand Alliance CM face Tejashwi Yadav along with his mother Rabri Devi also cast their votes at the Veterinary Ground polling booth in Patna at 9 a.m.

"I want people of Bihar to cast their votes at their respective polling booths and also follow the Covid norms. People of Bihar need change and I appeal to people of Bihar to vote in favour of Mahagathbandhan in large numbers," Tejashwi said.

His mother Rabri Devi said, "A wave of change was underway in Bihar and I appeal to the voters of Bihar to come out of their houses and please vote in favour of Mahagathbandhan candidates."

Sanjay Jaiswal, the BJP Bihar unit president also cast his votes along with his wife in booth number 61 in Bettiah.

"We are confident about people of Bihar voting in favour of the NDA candidates. I appeal to them to please follow the covid norms during polling," Jaiswal said.

Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai cast his vote at the Karnpura primary school in Hajipur in the morning.