Voting began on Wednesday morning for elections to four Assembly seats in three states. There are two seats being voted for in Goa, and one each are being contested in Delhi and Andhra Pradesh.
The focus is expected to be on Goa, where Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar is contesting from the Panaji constituency.
Goa bye-elections
Parrikar is contesting for the Panaji seat against Congress’ Girish Chodankar. In Valpoi, Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, who quit the Congress to join the Bharatiya Janata Party after the state elections, is contesting against Roy Naik, son of Congress MLA Ravi Naik.
Rane’s resignation as a Congress MLA in March had necessitated the Valpoi bye-poll, while Parrikar’s election from Panaji is necessary for the BJP as he was relieved of his duties as the defence minister and sent to Goa after the Assembly election in March. Sitting BJP MLA Sidharth Kuncolienkar had resigned from the seat to make way for Parrikar.
Voter turnout of 70% was recorded in Panaji, while it was 79.8% in Valpoi.
Delhi bye-poll
Voting is under way for the Bawana Assembly constituency in New Delhi, where the Aam Aadmi Party, the BJP and the Congress are locked in a triangular contest. Eight candidates are in the fray, and the results will be declared on August 28.
Voting began at 8 am, and 2.94 lakh electors are eligible to exercise their franchise. The voter turnout stood at 45% till 6 pm.
The polling is being carried out using Electronic Voting Machines enabled with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails. Seven VVPAT devices were replaced after they showed errors. “None of our EVMs malfunctioned, only some of the VVPAT equipment attached to them had to be changed... they were immediately replaced,” Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer Chandra Bhushan Kumar told PTI.
The AAP, which holds 65 seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly, has fielded Ram Chander. The election became necessary after former AAP legislator Ved Parkash quit the party and joined the BJP. He is now the BJP’s candidate for Bawana. The Congress has fielded its former three-time MLA from the constituency, Surender Kumar.
The outcome of this election will be important for the AAP, which had lost the Municipal Corporation of Delhi polls in April.
FIR against AAP leader Imran Hussain
The Election Commission on Wednesday registered a case against Aam Aadmi Party leader Imran Hussain for allegedly violating the model code of conduct. The BJP had alleged that Hussain had indulged in corruption, and was promoting enmity between two communities.
“The language used in the poster distributed by the candidate during election campaign is highly objectionable and seek to divide any other peace loving community in the state,” the EC said.
Andhra Pradesh bye-election
In Andhra Pradesh, voting began at 8 am for the Nandyal Assembly constituency in Kurnool district. The polling percentage stood at 53.1% till 3 pm.
The YSR Congress has fielded former minister Shilpa Mohan Reddy, while the Telugu Desam Party, which is in power in the state, has named Brahmananda Reddy its candidate. Brahmananda Reddy is the nephew of MLA Bhuma Nagi Reddy, whose death necessitated the bye-poll. Bhuma Nagi Reddy had won the seat on a YSR Congress ticket in 2014 but switched to the TDP.
The Congress has fielded Gaddam Abdul Khadar, but the contest is essentially between the TDP and YSR Congress candidates.
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