Counting of votes in 4 Lok Sabha bypoll seats began on Thursday morning. The bypolls were held on Monday in Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya in Maharashtra and in a single seat in Nagaland. One of the most crucial among the seats is western Uttar Pradesh’s Kairana where the opposition parties put up a show of unity to take on the BJP in the run up to the general elections next year.
After taking an early lead through postal ballots, BJP’s Mriganka Singh is now trailing against RLD’s Tabassum Hasan by over 8,000 votes.
Tabassum Hasan, a former lawmaker, is supported by the Congress and Samajwadi Party, and she also claims the support of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
A victory for RLD would be seen as strengthing of the federal front after its victory in Karnataka Assembly elections recently and in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur seats in Uttar Pradesh earlier.
Voting in both Kairana and Noorpur was hit by complaints of snags in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and VVPATs or Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail machines that produce slips to confirm to the voter that his choice has been recorded correctly. Repolling was held at 73 polling stations in Kairana yesterday.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
