E-Paper
Bypolls: Suar sees 44.95% turnout, 44.15% in Chhanbey; voting peaceful
44.95% and 44.15% of votes were polled in the byelection to Suar and Chhanbey assembly seats respectively, with no reports of untoward incidents.
Although slow in the initial hours, polling in the byelection to the Suar (Rampur) and Chhanbey (Mirzapur) assembly seats gradually picked up by the latter half of Wednesday. By the end of the polling hours, an approximate 44.95% and 44.15% of votes were polled in Suar and Chhanbey, respectively.
Suar is witnessing a direct contest between Apna Dal candidate Shafeek Ahmed Ansari and the Samajwadi Party’s Anuradha Chauhan; Chhanbey, too, is witnessing a head-to-head battle between Apna Dal’s Rinki Kol and the SP’s Kirti Kol. The counting of votes will take place on Saturday.
Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer (CEO) Ajay Kumar Shukla said the polling was peaceful and there was no report of any untoward incident even as the SP alleged that police were preventing voters from exercising their franchise. “The police forced voters to return home in Sehpur, Todipura, Jalpur and Pattikala areas of Suar,” the SP alleged in a series of tweets.
Later, SP leader Arvind Kumar Singh wrote to the Election Commission of India alleging rigging on both the assembly seats by the ruling party.
The Chhanbey assembly seat fell vacant following the death of Apna Dal MLA Rahul Prakash Kol; the Suar segment was declared vacant after a Moradabad court sentenced SP MLA Abdullah Azam Khan to two years in jail in a 15-year-old case.
While six candidates are in the fray for Suar, eight are contesting for the Chhanbey seat. A total of 774 polling booths were set up under 492 polling centers in both the constituencies. The election commission had deployed 40 companies of central armed police force, eight companies of provincial armed constabulary, 1,550 home guard jawans and hundreds of local police personnel to maintain law and order during the polling.
