Pic: Bypolls held in Agartala, June 24
Bypolls to three Lok Sabha and seven Assembly seats were held across six states Friday. Counting of votes began Sunday morning. The bypolls will help the poll panel fill up vacancies in the electoral college which elects the President of India. The Presidential election is due July 18.
Why were the bypolls held?
Bypolls in Azamgarh were necessitated by the resignation of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, who was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly as an MLA in elections earlier this year. The Rampur seat was vacated by senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, who too was elected to the state Assembly.
Bypoll in Sangrur, Punjab was called after Bhagwant Mann vacated the seat after winning the assembly polls. He is currently the state’s chief minister.
One of the seven assembly seats where by-election was held is Rajinder Nagar in Delhi, vacated by Raghav Chadha of the AAP who became a Rajya Sabha member recently.
The remaining Assembly seats where bypolls were held include Mandar in Jharkhand, Atmakur in Andhra Pradesh, and Agartala, Town Bordowali, Surma and Jubarajnagar in Tripura.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha is among the prominent candidates in the fray. The bypolls in Agartala and Town Bardowali constituencies were necessitated after Sudip Roy Barman and Asish Saha quit as BJP MLAs and joined the Congress in February.
The Surma seat in Dhalai district fell vacant after BJP legislator, Asish Das, was disqualified by Speaker Ratan Chakraborty and bypoll to Jubarajnagar was necessitated following the death of sitting CPI(M) MLA Ramendra Chandra Debnath. Trinamool Congress and Left Front have fielded candidates in all the four seats.
In Andhra Pradesh, the bypoll was held to fill the vacancy after the death of then Industries Minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy in February. His brother Vikram Reddy is the ruling YSR Congress candidate and he is locked in a contest with BJP’s G Bharat Kumar Yadav.
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