E-Paper
EC announces bypolls to Mulayam’s seat, 5 others
Assembly constituencies going for the bypolls are Rampur (Uttar Pradesh), Padampur (Odisha), Sardarshahar (Rajasthan), Kurhani (Bihar) and Bhanupratappur (Chhattisgarh), said the EC. Of these, the Bhanupratappur seat is reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST).
The Election Commission (EC) on Saturday announced bypolls to the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, which fell vacant following the death of Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, along with five assembly constituencies in as many states on December 5.
Assembly constituencies going for the bypolls are Rampur (Uttar Pradesh), Padampur (Odisha), Sardarshahar (Rajasthan), Kurhani (Bihar) and Bhanupratappur (Chhattisgarh), said the EC. Of these, the Bhanupratappur seat is reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST).
The counting of votes will be held on December 8 to coincide with the results of the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections. While voting for Himachal Pradesh assembly polls will be held on November 12, Gujarat will see polling in two phases on December 1 and 5.
“The commission has decided to use EVMs (electronic voting machines) and VVPATs (voter verifiable paper audit trails) in the by-elections across all the polling stations,” the poll panel said in a statement. “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.”
Bypoll to the Mainpuri parliamentary seat was necessitated after SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav, a seven-term Lok Sabha MP, passed away on October 10 following prolonged illness.
SP leader Azam Khan’s disqualification after he was convicted and sentenced to three-year imprisonment in a 2019 case of hate speech necessitated bypoll to Rampur assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh.
In Rajasthan, Sardarshahar assembly seat fell vacant after the death of Congress legislator Bhanwar Lal Sharma (77) on October 9.
Bypoll to the Kurhani seat in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district was necessitated after the disqualification of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) legislator Anil Sahni, who has been convicted and sentenced to three years in jail in a case of fraud probed by CBI.
The last date for filing of nominations is November 17 while candidates can withdraw their nominations till November 21, the EC said.
