Published Nov 20, 2024 | 8:52 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 20, 2024 | 8:23 PM
Voters in a polling booth in Wayanad.
The bypolls for 15 Assembly seats in Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Uttarakhand, and the Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand began at 7 am on Wednesday, 20 October.
Polling is underway for all 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra, while 38 constituencies in Jharkhand are voting in the final phase of the state elections.
In Kerala, the by-election is being held at the Palakkad Assembly constituency, which was necessitated after MLA Shafi Parambil was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Vadakara constituency.
For this election, the Congress-led UDF has fielded Rahul Mamkootathil and the CPI(M)-led LDF is supporting independent candidate Dr P Sarin. Sarin had left the Congress ahead of the by-polls. The NDA candidate is C Krishnakumar.
The polling will be held till 6 pm on Wednesday. A total of 1,94,706 voters will be voting in the Palakkad Assembly constituency. Among the voters, 1,00,290 are women.
The voter turnout reached 44.46 percent at 2.00 pm.
In the Palakkad byelection, voter turnout reached 12.64% by 9:14 am, with 24,618 votes cast out of a total of 1,94,706 registered voters. #Kerala #PalakkadByelection pic.twitter.com/OuGBM2OgZo
— South First (@TheSouthfirst) November 20, 2024
However, the election process faced a slight hiccup when LDF candidate Sarin was unable to cast his vote at booth number 88, located at Trueline School, due to a malfunction in the VVPAT machine. Sarin has decided to return later in the afternoon to cast his vote.
Mock polls were conducted at all polling stations early in the morning. Meanwhile, early trends indicated a fairly good turnout.
The Election Commission has established 184 polling stations to facilitate the 1,94,706 registered voters, including 1,00,290 women, 2,306 senior citizens above the age of 85, 780 differently-abled voters, and four transgender voters.
The electorate also includes 2,445 first-time voters and 229 expatriates.
The Election Commission has flagged seven polling centres across three locations as sensitive and identified 58 booths as vulnerable.
These locations will have heightened security, with central forces and local police personnel deployed to maintain order.
Polling materials, including voting machines, were distributed on Tuesday in preparation for the election. The counting of votes is scheduled for 23 November.
On the last day of campaigning, Mamkootathil carried a blue trolley bag symbolising his campaign journey.
The trolley, an ordinary piece of luggage, has been the subject of several speculations, captivating voters and setting social media ablaze. It has also caused political parties to temporarily shift focus from development issues.
The UDF camp is optimistic about its prospects, with local leaders predicting a lead of 15,000 votes for Mamkoottathiil.
Meanwhile, BJP state President K Surendran expressed strong optimism about the NDA alliance’s chances in Palakkad Assembly bypolls and promised better governance.
The LDF is also hopeful of Sarin’s victory.
In Uttar Pradesh, polling will be held in Katehari, Karhal, Meerapur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan, Sisamau, Khair, Phulpur and Kundarki.
In Punjab, bypolls will be held in four Assembly seats – Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal (SC) and Barnala. Kedarnath in Uttarakhand is also going into polls on Wednesday.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
