Bypoll Trends: SP Leading in Chhanbey in UP, AAP in Jalandhar, BJD in Jharsuguda

Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party and BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) are leading on one seat each in the ongoing assembly by-elections in Uttar Pradesh, according to the latest trends.

Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Kirti Kol is ahead of her nearest rival and Apna Dal (Sonelal) nominee Rinki Kol in the Chhanbey (SC) seat by 3,304 votes, the trends on the Election Commission website showed.

In Suar, Shafeek Ahmed Ansari of the Apna Dal (Sonelal) is ahead of his nearest rival and SP nominee Anuradha Chauhan by 2,217 votes, it showed.

Bypolls were held for the Suar Assembly seat in Rampur district and the Chhanbey (SC) assembly seat in Mirzapur district on May 10.

The Suar seat fell vacant in February following the disqualification of SP leader Azam Khan's son Abdullah Azam Khan as an MLA after a Moradabad court sentenced him to two years in jail in a 15-year-old case.

The Chhanbey seat fell vacant after the death of Apna Dal (Sonelal) MLA Rahul Prakash Kol in February.

In the 403-member Uttar Pradesh assembly, the ruling BJP has 255 MLAs, and its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) and the NISHAD Party have 11 and six legislators, respectively.

The Samajwadi Party has 109 MLAs while its ally the Rashtriya Lok Dal has nine. The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party has six MLAs, the Congress and the Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) have two each and the Bahujan Samaj Party has one member in the assembly.

Jalandhar: AAP's Rinku Ahead of Cong's Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary

Chandigarh: AAP candidate Sushil Rinku is leading by more than 25,000 votes over his nearest rival and Congress nominee Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll, latest trends showed.

Out of the 8.87 lakh votes polled, counting of more than 4.15 lakh votes has been completed so far, according to the trends on the Election Commission website.

Rinku has, so far, polled 1,38,493 votes while Karamjit Kaur has got 1,13,164 votes, it showed. The AAP nominee is ahead by 25,329 votes.

Confident of their candidate's win, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporters celebrated Rinku's lead over others in the fray for the seat.

BJP candidate Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal was in the third spot while Shiromani Akali Dal's Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi, who is being backed by the BSP, was at the fourth spot, the website showed, the trends showed.

The bypoll, voting for which was held on May 10, was necessitated following the death of Karamjit Kaur's husband and Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary in January.

Nineteen candidates contested the bypoll, which recorded a voter turnout of 54.70%. The turnout was well below the 63.04% recorded in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Odisha: BJD Leads Over BJP Rival in Jharsuguda

Bhubaneswar: The Ruling Biju Janata Dal candidate Dipali Das was ahead of her BJP rival Tankadhar Tripathy by 15,751 votes after the sixth round of counting in the by-election to Odisha's Jharsuguda assembly seat on Saturday, an election official said.

According to ECI official, the BJD candidate secured 35,609 votes while the BJP candidate got 19,858 votes. Congress candidate Tarun Pandey was in third place with 1,948 votes as the counting of votes progressed.

Of the total nine candidates, the contest is now between the BJD and the BJP candidate.

The counting of votes began here amid tight security at 8 AM. The counting started with postal ballots and EVM votes were later counted. The votes are being counted on 14 tables and the counting will be done in as many as 18 rounds.

Odisha’s Chief Electoral Officer Nikunja Bihari Dhal said that the counting process is likely to be completed by the afternoon.

The outcome of the bypoll will not have any impact on the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government headed by Naveen Patnaik, as the party enjoys a comfortable majority.

Altogether, 79.21% of 2.21 lakh voters had exercised their franchise on May 10.

The bypoll was held following the assassination of Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das on January 29 allegedly by a police officer.

In the 147-member Odisha Assembly, the BJD has 113 members, and the opposition BJP and Congress have 22 and nine MLAs, respectively. The CPI(M) has one member and there is one Independent legislator.