Bypolls in 10 states today; EVM snag due to heat, say election officers
RLD candidate from Uttar Pradesh's Kairana writes to EC over faulty EVMs and VVPATs.
Mumbai: By-elections to four Lok Sabha seats, including the politically significant Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, and 10 assembly constituencies across 10 states are being held today.
Besides Kairana in western Uttar Pradesh, other Lok Sabha seats that are voting are Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya in Maharashtra and the lone seat in Nagaland.
In Kairana, the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress are supporting Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) candidate Ajit Singh. The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Mriganka Singh, daughter of Hukum Singh whose death made the election necessary.
Apart from these Lok Sabha bypolls, the assembly by-elections are being held in Maharashtra (Palus Kadegaon constituency), Uttar Pradesh (Noorpur), Bihar (Jokihat), Jharkhand (Gomia and Silli), Kerala (Chengannur), Meghalaya (Ampati), Punjab (Shahkot), Uttarakhand (Tharali) and West Bengal (Maheshtala).
Besides, two constituencies in Karnataka — Rajarajeshwari Nagar and Jayanagar — are also heading for the polling booths to elect their Members of Legislative Assemblies. Voting had not happened in these two seats during the May 12 assembly polls.
The counting of votes will take place on May 31.
There have been reports of voting machine malfunction from Kairana, Punjab's Shahkot seat, Maharashtra's Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya.
Here are the LIVE updates:
05:47 pm: BJP delegation met EC officials in Delhi over reports of malfunctioning in EVMs. BJP's Arun Singh says, "we told them that we received info that EVMs worked either late or with some issues or didn't work at all in 197 booths,demanded repolling at few stations."
05:39 pm: 70.01 per cent voter turn out recorded till 5 pm in West Bengal's Maheshtala, 69 per cent in Punjab's Shahkot and 57 per cent in Uttar Pradesh's Noorpur and 40.37 per cent in Maharashtra's Palghar.
02:15 pm: According to reports, Election Commission officers have said that EVMs in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra are malfunctioning due to heat wave.
02: 00 pm: 19.25 per cent voter turnout recorded till 1 pm in Palghar by-poll in Maharashtra
01:45 pm: Encountered problems & panic in the initial hours. Nothing has happened after 12 pm. The new machines are working properly. We are in consultation with Central Election Commission about extension of voting time: Dr Prashant Narnaware, Returning Officer on Palghar by-poll
01:40 pm: 34 per cent voter turnout recorded till 1 pm in RR Nagar assembly election in Karnataka
01:30 pm: 44 per cent voter turnout recorded till 1 pm in Shahkot assembly by-election in Punjab
01:00 pm: Technical problems in EVMs&VVPATs clearly indicate failure of EC.If this is the situation in by-polls, think about coming Lok Sabha Elections. We've said it again & again & other parties have also agreed,that elections should be conducted using ballot papers:Anil Desai, Shiv Sena
12:03 pm: Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha by polls: Voting temporarily suspended for now at 35 polling booths due to faulty Electronic Voting Machines (EVM): Abhimanyu Kale, District Magistrate.
11:49 am: 31 per cent voters turnout recorded for Shahkot bypoll till 11 am, news agency ANI reported.
11:40 am: I've been continuously receiving complaints. They didn't expect so many people to come out to vote in Ramzan.Initial strategy was to hold elections in Ramzan so that people won't vote: RLD candidate Tabassum Hasan after writing to EC over faulty EVMs and VVPATs.
11:35 am: 21 per cent voting recorded till 11 am in Karnataka's RR Nagar assembly election, reports ANI.
11:25 am: Tabassum Hasan, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) candidate for Kairana Lok Sabha bypoll, writes to the Election Commission over faulty EVMs and VVPATs in around 175 polling booths across Shamli, Kairana and Noorpur.
11:01 am: There are reports that in Noorpur, 140 EVMs are faulty, which is because they've been tampered, there are similar reports from Kairana. They (BJP) want to avenge defeat in Phulpur & Gorakhpur, which is why they want to defeat us at any cost : Rajendra Chaudhary, Samajwadi Party