Bypolls 2023 Results LIVE: UP CM Yogi congratulates Apna Dal (S) for bypoll win

The Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party has decided to not contest the by-elections, while the Congress has fielded its candidate only in Chhanbey. With leaders either campaigning in Karnataka or busy with the urban local bodies elections of Uttar Pradesh, the campaign for the two seats in Rampur and Mirzapur districts has been lacklustre.

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

Postal ballot counting for Jharsuguda bypoll begins

The security arrangements are tight as we have assistance from 5 companies of paramilitary, Punjab Armed forces as well as Punjab district police, says Jalandhar police commissioner Kuldeep Chahal. 

Countings of postal ballots begins for Jalandhar bypoll

Counting of votes for the bypoll at Odisha's Jharsuguda seat begins

Counting of votes for the bypoll at Rampur's Suar seat begins

The counting of votes for the bypoll at Chhanbey began at 8 am amid tight security

Counting of votes for Punjab's Lok Sabha seat, 4 assembly seats across UP, Odisha, Meghalaya begins

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “It is hoped that the Election Commission will keep telling the statistics after each round so that public confidence can be maintained", Akhilesh Yadav tweets ahead of counting in UP bypoll.

Six candidates are in the fray. All of them are men.

The Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat, which is reserved for Dalits, became vacant after the demise of Santokh Singh Chaudhary, a Congress MP.

The bypoll to the Jharsuguda assembly constituency gained a significance as it is the last election before the Lok Sabha polls next year. Heavyweight campaigners from major political parties including Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Congress and BJP took part in the electioneering.

Prominent among the nineteen candidates in the fray are the AAP's Sushil Rinku, Congress' Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary, BJP's Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal and the Shiromani Akali Dal's (SAD) Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi.

Six candidates -- all men -- were in the fray. The nominees were -- Synshar Lyngdoh Thabah of the UDP, Samlin Malngiang of the ruling National People's Party (NPP), S Osborne Kharjana of the Congress, Sandondor Ryntathiang of the HSPDP, Sereph E Kharbuki of the BJP and Stodingstar Thabah of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

The bypoll was necessitated following the killing of incumbent MLA and the then Health Minister Naba Kishore Das on January 29.

Though nine candidates were in the fray, the contest was mainly between the BJD, BJP and Congress.

The ruling BJD had fielded Das's daughter Deepali Das, while the BJP had nominated Tripathy. The Congress had fielded Tarun Pandey, the son of late MLA Biren Pandey. All three candidates are debutant contestants.

In the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the ruling BJP has 255 MLAs and its allies Apna Dal (Sonelal) and NISHAD Party have 11 and six legislators respectively. The SP has 109 MLAs, while its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) has nine. The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) has six MLAs, the Congress and the Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) have two each and the BSP has one member in the Assembly.

The Mayawati-led BSP did not contest the bypolls in UP. 

The Suar seat, held by Abdullah Azam Khan, was declared vacant after a Moradabad court sentenced the MP to two years in jail in a 15-year-old case. In the 2022 UP elections, Abdullah Khan had defeated Apna Dal (Sonelal)'s Haidar Ali Khan by a margin of over 61,000 votes. There are over three lakh registered voters in Suar.

The AAP has fielded former MLA Sushil Rinku who quit the Congress to join the Punjab's ruling party while the Congress has shown its faith in Karamjit Kaur, the wife of Santokh Chaudhary.The BJP has fielded Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, a Dalit Sikh, who quit the Shiromani Akali Dal to join the saffron wing while, The SAD has fielded its two-time MLA from Banga seat Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi, who is a doctor.

Bypolls held in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Odisha witnessed a moderate to high voter turnout on Wednesday, while Meghalaya registered an impressive polling percentage of over 90.

Uttar Pradesh's Suar and Chhanbey assembly constituencies recorded sub-50 voting percentage in bypolls held on Wednesday, a noticeable decline from the assembly polls last year which prompted main Opposition Samajwadi Party to allege irregularities and demand the Election Commission take note and initiate action.

According to officials figures, while Suar constituency recorded 44.95 percent polling, Chhanbey registered 44.15 percent, compared to 68.8 per cent and 52 percent in the 2022 assembly elections, respectively.

A voter turnout of 54.70 per cent was recorded in the May 10 Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll, according to final figures released by the election office on Thursday.

A total of 79.21 per cent of 2.21 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the by-poll held for the Jharsuguda assembly segment, an election official said here on Thursday.

The Jharsuguda by-poll was held on Wednesday.

Security has been tightened and all other arrangements put in place for Saturday's counting of votes for the high-stakes Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll that witnessed a four-corner battle among the BJP, Congress, SAD and the ruling AAP.