The counting for Uttarakhand's Bageshwar assembly seat began on Friday morning, as the results are set to be announced. In a pivotal electoral faceoff held on Tuesday, the bypoll for the Bageshwar seat witnessed five candidates battling for victory. The main contest, however, appeared to be among the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress party candidates.
Congress' Basant Kumar is leading from Bageshwar seat currently.
The counting of votes for the Bageshwar assembly bypoll in Uttarakhand will be done at 14 tables with 130 polling personnel on the job, district magistrate Anuradha Pal said. The Bageshwar seat fell vacant after the death of its MLA and cabinet minister Chandan Ram Das in April this year. He had won the seat four times since 2007.
In a strategic move, the BJP had nominated Parvati Das, the wife of the late MLA, in hopes of securing sympathy votes and maintaining their hold on the seat. Meanwhile, the Congress has countered by fielding Basant Kumar as their candidate in what promises to be a closely-watched electoral battle. Notably, Kumar had previously contested the 2022 Bageshwar assembly elections as an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate. However, he left the AAP just a few days before being nominated by the Congress to contest from the same seat in the bypoll.
The Bageshwar assembly bypoll in Uttarakhand had a voter turnout of 55.44 per cent. The seat has witnessed contests between BJP and Congress in successive elections since the state's creation in 2000.
{{/usCountry}}The Bageshwar assembly bypoll in Uttarakhand had a voter turnout of 55.44 per cent. The seat has witnessed contests between BJP and Congress in successive elections since the state's creation in 2000.
{{/usCountry}}In addition to the BJP and Congress, the electoral landscape in Bageshwar witnesses a diverse field of candidates, with the Samajwadi Party, the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, and the Uttarakhand Parivartan Party also joining the fray in this hotly contested bypoll.
Beyond prominent contenders Das and Kumar, the electoral field in Bageshwar presents a variety of candidates. Bhagvati Prasad from the Samajwadi Party, Arjun Dev representing the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, and Bhagwat Kohli of the Uttarakhand Parivartan Party are all in the running for this crucial bypoll.
The by-elections were held in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Tripura, West Bengal, and Jharkhand on Tuesday.