Bypolls are underway in three parliamentary constituencies and 30 assembly constituencies in different states today. The three parliamentary constituencies where polling is being held today are in UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. In a press communication by the Election Commission of India on September 28, it informed, “The Commission has reviewed the situations related to the pandemic, flood, festivals, cold conditions in certain regions, feedback from concerned States/UT and taken into consideration all facts and circumstances and it has decided to hold bye-elections to fill vacancies in three Parliamentary Constituencies of UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu; Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh and 30 vacancies in Assembly Constituencies of various States.”
As far as the assembly constituencies are concerned, Andhra Pradesh will hold an election in its Badvel (SC) constituency. Assam will hold elections in five assembly constituencies Gossaigaon, Bhabanipur, Tamulpur, Mariani and Thowra. Bihar will hold elections on two seats namely Kusheshwar Asthan (SC) and Tarapur. Haryana will hold an election in the Ellenabad assembly seat. Himachal Pradesh will hold polls on three seats in Fatehpur, Arki and Jubbal-Kotkhai. Karnataka to hold polls on two seats namely Sindgi and Hangal. Madhya Pradesh will hold elections on Prithvipur, Raigaon (SC), Jobat (ST) seats. Maharashtra to hold polls in Deglur (SC) seat. Meghalaya to hold assembly bye-polls for the Mawryngkneng (ST), Mawphlang (ST) and Rajabala constituencies. Mizoram to hold polls in Tuirial (ST) assembly constituency. Nagaland to hold polls in Shamtorr-Chessore (ST) assembly seat. Rajasthan to hold polls in two constituencies namely Vallabhnagar and Dhariawad (ST). Telangana to hold poll in Huzurabad assembly constituency. Dinhata, Santipur, Khardaha and Gosaba (SC) assembly seats in West Bengal, will vote in the assembly by-polls on October 30. In Dinhata and Shantipur, two MPs Nishith Pramanik and Jagannath Sarkar had resigned.
The Commission has decided to hold these bye-elections to fill vacancies and has fixed the dates of poll events as per provisions under Section 30 and date of withdrawal under Section 30(c) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The results of these polls will be announced on November 2. The Commission has decided to use EVMs and VVPATs in the bye-election in all the polling stations. Adequate numbers of EVMs and VVPATs have been made available and all steps have been taken to ensure that the polls are conducted smoothly with the help of these machines.
Electoral Photo Identity cards (EPIC) shall be the main document of identification of a voter. In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, all polling personnel and election officials including the private persons engaged in the election duty shall be double vaccinated before taking their services. Candidate/election agent/polling agent counting agent/driver etc whoever is coming in contact with the public or election officials have to be double vaccinated. One health worker to be appointed as COVID nodal officer for each Polling Station. Officials at booth shall take enough preventive measures and make necessary arrangements to ensure that no poll related violence occurs during pre and post poll. In the light of advisory issued by the Health Ministry, ECI will keep a close watch on the evolving situation and may further tighten the guidelines for the upcoming elections.
