The by -elections for 5 assembly seats in West Bengal, Gujarat and Kerala along with Punjab were concluded peacefully on Thursday. The maximum voting was held in Kaliganj seat in West Bengal, where 69.85% polling was recorded till 5 pm. The election started from 7 am to 6 pm. According to the Election Commission, the voting was peaceful, although some minor controversies came to light.
West Bengal: Heavy turnout in Kaliganj
The by -election had to be held due to the death of TMC MLA Naseeruddin Ahmed in Kaliganj seat of Nadia district. His daughter Alifa Ahmed has been fielded by TMC. Ashish Ghosh and Congress -backed CPI (M) candidate from BJP is contesting the election. The TMC workers were accused by the Congress of taking out their agent from a booth, although the TMC rejected it. The BJP candidate also questioned the voting process that his middle finger was ink, which is against the rules. Election officials denied any rule violation but have summoned the report.
Kerala: 59.68% polling in Nilambur till 3 pm
Voting took place here at 263 booths. The main contest was between M. Swaraj of LDF, Aryan Shaukat of UDF, PV Anwar of TMC and Mohan George of BJP. PV Anwar resigned from CPI (M) and resigned, due to which this by -election was held. Anwar alleged that no party raised local issues like wild animals attacks during the election campaign. He expressed confidence of both LDF and UDF votes coming in his favor.
Gujarat: Voting in Visavadar and link seats
Visavadar (Junagadh) recorded 54.61% polling till 5 pm and 54.49% in Kara (Mehsana). The tough seat is reserved for the SC category. A triangular contest between AAP, Congress and BJP was seen here. BJP has not won since 2007 in Visavadar. This time the party hopes that it will break this myth.
Punjab: Lower turnout in Ludhiana West
There was 49.07% polling till 3 pm. This seat was vacant due to the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Gogi. The Aam Aadmi Party has nominated Sanjeev Arora, while Bharat Bhushan from Congress, Jeevan Gupta from BJP and Parupakar Singh from Akali Dal are in the fray.
Why the by -election is being held, who is the candidate
Ludhiana West seat of Punjab has been vacant by the death of Aam Aadmi Party MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi. On this seat, the Aam Aadmi Party has made industrialist and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora a candidate. Even before the by -election, CM Bhagwant Mann had announced to make Arora a minister. BJP has made Jeevan Gupta and Congress has made former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu a candidate.
Parupakar Singh Ghumman of Shiromani Akali Dal is also presenting an election challenge. Kaliganj seat of West Bengal was vacant by the death of MLA Naseeruddin Ahmed. The death of the Kadi seat of Gujarat, Karsanbhai Panjibhai Solanki died, while the Visavadar seat was vacated by the resignation of Aam Aadmi Party MLA Bhayani Bhupendrabhai Gandubhai.
Why is the Visavadar seat important?
The mood of the Visavadar assembly seat of Gujarat has been against the power of the state. In the Gujarat elections, the Aam Aadmi Party candidate won from this seat. The BJP gave full force on this seat, which was vacant due to the resignation of the MLA, the resignation of the by -election in the by -election.
CM Bhupendra Patel himself came under the nomination of BJP candidate. Home Minister Harsh Sanghvi and BJP state president CR Patil have camp for campaigning. At the same time, former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Atishi as well as Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had reached the campaign of Aam Aadmi Party candidate Gopal Italia.